MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs MiniMax M3
There is no quality verdict yet: the AIGROW small-business benchmark has not run MiniMax M3.1 Flash. On price, MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs less: $0.15 in and $0.60 out per million tokens, against $0.30 in and $1.20 out for MiniMax M3.
AIGROW credit covers Claude Opus 5.5, Claude Fable 5.2, Claude Fable 5.1, GPT-6 Astra, Claude Sonnet 5.5, GPT-6.1 Sol, GPT-6.1 Terra, Grok 4.7 and Gemini 4 Argon. See API credit
$25 a month brings $110 of API credit and cancels any time; $25 once buys $100. US dollars, standard rate, shortest context band. Price only: the benchmark has not run both.
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash
- $0.69
- MiniMax M3
- $1.38
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash, per M tokens
- $0.15 / $0.60
- MiniMax M3, per M tokens
- $0.30 / $1.20
3,000 tokens in and 400 out each, at list price.
MiniMax's new Flash model against the M3 that stays on sale, at half the M3 price on input and output. 1,000 support replies cost $1.38 on MiniMax M3 and $0.69 on MiniMax M3.1 Flash, so MiniMax M3 costs twice as much.
What each one costs
The API price per million tokens and the cheapest app plan with each model, from the makers’ own pages. Each name opens that model’s full price page.
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash
- On the MiniMax API, MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens. MiniMax Code has a free plan and paid plans from $22/mo (Go); the plan list does not name MiniMax M3.1 Flash. Plan prices read 20 October 2026.
- MiniMax M3
- On the MiniMax API, MiniMax M3 costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens. MiniMax Code has a free plan and paid plans from $22/mo (Go); the plan list does not name MiniMax M3. Plan prices read 20 October 2026.
Side by side
Each maker’s published rate for its standard tier. Cached input is what a repeated prompt prefix costs once the provider has stored it.
| Fact | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | MiniMax |
| Tier | Small and fast | Flagships |
| Input, per M tokens | $0.15 | $0.30 |
| Output, per M tokens | $0.60 | $1.20 |
| Cached input | $0.015 | $0.06 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Released | 19 Oct 2026 | 1 Jun 2026 |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
What a job costs on each
1,000 runs of each job at the two list prices. The gap moves from job to job because the models price input, output and cached context differently.
| Job | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | MiniMax M3 | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Support reply3,000 in, 400 out. | $0.69 | $1.38 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash, 50% less |
| Document summary25,000 in, 1,000 out. | $4.35 | $8.70 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash, 50% less |
| Agent task80,000 in (70,000 cached), 3,000 out. | $4.35 | $10.80 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash, 60% less |
The token counts are ours, chosen to look like real work; the prices are the makers’. A model with no published cache price bills the agent task’s repeated context at its full input rate.
The small print
What each base rate leaves out, from the makers’ own pages: surcharges, discounts, promotions and cache pricing.
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash
- MiniMax pitches it as an efficient open-weight model for everyday work, next to MiniMax M3, which remains available. Release date is the MiniMax launch post date. MiniMax’s pricing page
- MiniMax M3
- Shown as a 'Permanent 50% off' price (struck-out $0.60 / $2.40), recorded as the list price. Above 512K input: $0.60 / $2.40, cache read $0.12. Priority tier 1.5x. Open weights (self-host guide on the official docs, MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3 on Hugging Face). MiniMax’s pricing page
Other comparisons
Every head to head on the list that involves MiniMax M3.1 Flash or MiniMax M3.
Compare MiniMax M3.1 Flash and MiniMax M3 with 52 other models
The price list sets every model’s input and output price side by side, with what a support reply, a document summary and an agent task cost on each.
Prices checked 12 November 2026