MiniMax M1 40K vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
MiniMax M1 40K leads the LLM Stats Score 20.5 to 16.2.
MiniMax · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
MiniMax M1 40K leads the overall LLM Stats Score 20.5 to 16.2, ranking #197 overall.
In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose MiniMax M1 40K
- overall performance matters — it scores 20.5 and ranks #197 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning — it leads those capability indexes
Choose Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 4 exact shared results
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
16 reported for MiniMax M1 40K · 50 for Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
MiniMax M1 40K outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU-Pro), while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is better at 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, SimpleQA).
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
MiniMax M1 40K has 447.0B more parameters than Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking, making it 4966.7% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking specifies output context (262,144 tokens).
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking supports multimodal inputs, whereas MiniMax M1 40K does not.
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
MiniMax M1 40K
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking
License
Usage and distribution terms
MiniMax M1 40K is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking uses Apache 2.0.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
MIT
Open weights
Apache 2.0
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
MiniMax M1 40K was released on 2025-06-16, while Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking was released on 2025-09-22.
Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking is 3 months newer than MiniMax M1 40K.
Jun 16, 2025
1.3 years ago
Sep 22, 2025
12 months ago
3mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against MiniMax M1 40K and Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about MiniMax M1 40K vs Qwen3 VL 8B Thinking.