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DeepSeek-V3 vs Qwen4-Max-Preview

Comparing DeepSeek-V3 and Qwen4-Max-Preview across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

DeepSeek · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

DeepSeek-V3 and Qwen4-Max-Preview trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose DeepSeek-V3

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Choose Qwen4-Max-Preview

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Nov 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

DeepSeek-V3
DeepSeek
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.27 / M
— / M
Output price
$0.89 / M
— / M
Context window
131,072
—

Individual benchmarks

20 reported for DeepSeek-V3 · 0 for Qwen4-Max-Preview

No common benchmarks found

DeepSeek-V3 and Qwen4-Max-Previewdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only DeepSeek-V3 specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only DeepSeek-V3 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

DeepSeek
DeepSeek-V3
Input131,072 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Thu Nov 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Qwen4-Max-Preview supports multimodal inputs, whereas DeepSeek-V3 does not.

Qwen4-Max-Preview can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

DeepSeek-V3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

DeepSeek-V3 is licensed under MIT + Model License (Commercial use allowed), while Qwen4-Max-Preview uses a proprietary license.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

DeepSeek-V3

MIT + Model License (Commercial use allowed)

Open weights

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

DeepSeek-V3 was released on 2024-12-25, while Qwen4-Max-Preview was released on 2026-11-11.

Qwen4-Max-Preview is 23 months newer than DeepSeek-V3.

DeepSeek-V3

Dec 25, 2024

1.9 years ago

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Nov 11, 2026

1 days ago

1.9yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against DeepSeek-V3 and Qwen4-Max-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

DeepSeek-V3
✓ Preferred
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about DeepSeek-V3 vs Qwen4-Max-Preview.

Which is better, DeepSeek-V3 or Qwen4-Max-Preview?

DeepSeek-V3 (DeepSeek) and Qwen4-Max-Preview (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does DeepSeek-V3 compare to Qwen4-Max-Preview in benchmarks?

DeepSeek-V3 scores DROP: 91.6%, CLUEWSC: 90.9%, MATH-500: 90.2%, MMLU-Redux: 89.1%, MMLU: 88.5%.

What are the context window sizes for DeepSeek-V3 and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

DeepSeek-V3 supports 131K tokens and Qwen4-Max-Preview supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between DeepSeek-V3 and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT + Model License (Commercial use allowed) vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes DeepSeek-V3 and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

DeepSeek-V3 is developed by DeepSeek and Qwen4-Max-Preview is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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