Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $0.1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (12.8% lower; 1.15x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
Qianfan-OCR-Fast vs Qwen3 Max Thinking
Pick Qianfan-OCR-Fast for lower cost; pick Qwen3 Max Thinking only if the larger context window matters more.
Pricing data updated:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Qianfan-OCR-Fast for lower cost; pick Qwen3 Max Thinking only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qianfan-OCR-Fast is estimated at $2.08 vs $2.73 for Qwen3 Max Thinking, saving $0.65 (23.6% lower).
Cost-first pickQianfan-OCR-Fast
Context-first pickQwen3 Max Thinking
Sample savings$0.6523.6%
10x traffic gap$6.45
Qwen3 Max Thinking has more context, but Qianfan-OCR-Fast saves $0.65 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $6.45. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Qianfan-OCR-Fast stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Qianfan-OCR-Fast | Qwen3 Max Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Qianfan-OCR-Fast | $4.81 | $5.85 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Qianfan-OCR-Fast | $3.49 | $4.68 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Qianfan-OCR-Fast | $14.73 | $20.28 |
Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $1.09 cheaper per 1M output tokens (27.9% lower; 1.39x difference).
Qwen3 Max Thinking has 196.61K more context (4x larger).
Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $0.65 cheaper on the standard workload (23.6% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Qianfan-OCR-Fast has the lower input price; Qianfan-OCR-Fast has the lower output price; Qwen3 Max Thinking offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qianfan-OCR-Fast is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $2.08 for Qianfan-OCR-Fast and $2.73 for Qwen3 Max Thinking.
Choose Qianfan-OCR-Fast when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
Choose Qwen3 Max Thinking when you care most about larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qianfan-OCR-Fast is estimated at $2.08 vs $2.73 for Qwen3 Max Thinking, saving $0.65 (23.6% lower).
- Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $0.65 cheaper on the standard workload (23.6% lower).
- Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $0.1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (12.8% lower; 1.15x difference).
- Qianfan-OCR-Fast is $1.09 cheaper per 1M output tokens (27.9% lower; 1.39x difference).
- Qwen3 Max Thinking has 196.61K more context (4x larger).
| Feature | Qianfan-OCR-Fast (Baidu) | Qwen3 Max Thinking (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.68 | $0.78 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $2.81 | $3.9 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $2.08 | $2.73 |
| Context Window | 65.54K | 262.14K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Qianfan-OCR-Fast | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qianfan-OCR-Fast is estimated at $2.08 vs $2.73 for Qwen3 Max Thinking, saving $0.65 (23.6% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Qianfan-OCR-Fast | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Qianfan-OCR-Fast | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Qwen3 Max Thinking | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking can replace Qianfan-OCR-Fast when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.21.
- ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B can replace Qianfan-OCR-Fast when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.21.
- ERNIE 4.5 VL 28B A3B can replace Qianfan-OCR-Fast when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.42.
- ERNIE 4.5 300B A47B can replace Qianfan-OCR-Fast when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.83.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite offers 1.05M context with $1 sample workload cost.
- No popular competitor is currently available.
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.
Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.
Open provider hubsBaidu catalog
Review all tracked Baidu models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open Baidu modelsQwen catalog
Check other Qwen models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.
Open Qwen modelsQianfan-OCR-Fast is a domain-specific multimodal large model purpose-built for OCR. By leveraging specialized OCR training data while preserving versatile multimodal intelligence, it provides a powerful performance upgrade over Qianfan-OCR.
Qwen3-Max-Thinking is the flagship reasoning model in the Qwen3 series, designed for high-stakes cognitive tasks that require deep, multi-step reasoning. By significantly scaling model capacity and reinforcement learning compute, it...