Model Comparison
Magistral Medium vs Qwen3 MaxWhich is better in 2026?
Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.
Verdict: Magistral Medium vs Qwen3 Max — which is better?
Magistral Medium (by Mistral AI) and Qwen3 Max (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
Magistral Medium outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Qwen3 Max is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025). Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.
Choose Magistral Medium if…
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Qwen3 Max if…
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Magistral Medium outperforms in 1 benchmarks (GPQA), while Qwen3 Max is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025).
Both models are evenly matched across the benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Qwen3 Max has 976.0B more parameters than Magistral Medium, making it 4066.7% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3 Max specifies input context (256,000 tokens). Only Qwen3 Max specifies output context (131,072 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Magistral Medium supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen3 Max does not.
Magistral Medium can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Magistral Medium
Qwen3 Max
License
Usage and distribution terms
Magistral Medium is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Qwen3 Max uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Magistral Medium was released on 2025-06-10, while Qwen3 Max was released on 2025-12-15.
Qwen3 Max is 6 months newer than Magistral Medium.
Jun 10, 2025
1.2 years ago
Dec 15, 2025
7 months ago
6mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Magistral Medium has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-06-01, while Qwen3 Max's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Magistral Medium's training data extends to 2025-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Qwen3 Max's cutoff date.
Jun 2025
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Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Magistral Medium
View detailsMistral AI
Qwen3 Max
View detailsAlibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Magistral Medium and Qwen3 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
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FAQ
Common questions about Magistral Medium vs Qwen3 Max.