MiniMax-M3 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Official MiniMax and DeepSeek API prices and LMArena scores, checked 2026-10-29. Add up to 2 more models to compare 4.
Same bill; DeepSeek V4.1 Flash wins more LMArena tasks.
MiniMax-M3 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash have the same list price per token ($0.30 in, $1.20 out per 1M). DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores 46 points higher for coding. Across 7 shared LMArena tasks, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash leads 5 to 0 (2 tied). A medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) costs $12 on MiniMax-M3 and $12 on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash.
- Pick MiniMax-M3 if nothing here clearly favors it (no lower bill, bigger context, cheaper cache or LMArena lead of 3+ points over DeepSeek V4.1 Flash).
- Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash if you care most about coding (+46), reasoning and math (+40) and agent tasks (+32) or you reuse long prompts (cached input $0.006 vs $0.06).
Medium: 20M input + 5M output tokens a month at list price (short-context rate, no caching or batch discounts).
Marked side is better: lower for prices, higher for context and scores. Bars are scaled to the larger of the two.
| Spec | MiniMax-M3 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M tokens | ||
| Input | $0.30 | $0.30 |
| Cached input | $0.06 | $0.006 |
| Output | $1.20 | $1.20 |
| Blend 3:1 | $0.525 | $0.525 |
| Sample month, medium | $12 | $12 |
| Context | ||
| Context window | Not published | 1M tokens |
| Quality (LMArena, out of 100) | ||
| Coding | 0/100 #34 of 50 | 46/100 #12 of 50 |
| Chat | 0/100 #41 of 51 | 17/100 #18 of 51 |
| Creative writing | 0/100 #40 of 51 | 0/100 #22 of 51 |
| Roleplay and characters | 0/100 #32 of 51 | 0/100 #24 of 51 |
| Reasoning and math | 0/100 #42 of 51 | 40/100 #14 of 51 |
| Vision | 0/100 #30 of 33 | 14/100 #19 of 33 |
| Long documents | 36/100 #11 of 11 | Not ranked |
| Cheap bulk and agents | 18/100 #33 of 34 | 50/100 #16 of 34 |
| Details | ||
| Provider | MiniMax | DeepSeek |
| API model id | minimax-m3 | deepseek-flash |
| Notes | Prompts up to 512K tokens. Longer prompts cost $0.60 in, $2.40 out. MiniMax lists these as permanent 50% off its $0.60 in, $2.40 out list price. | Peak rate. Off-peak is half price. |
| Sources | ||
| Last checked | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-29 |
| Official pricing | MiniMax pricing | DeepSeek pricing |
Plans from data checked hourly against each vendor's official pricing page. Vendors state limits in different units, so we quote them as published. Team and enterprise plans are per seat.
API prices in USD per 1M tokens from each provider's official pricing page. Blend 3:1 = (3 x input + output) / 4. Sample month = stated input and output tokens at the list price, no caching. Quality: relative score out of 100 on each LMArena leaderboard (100 = top model we price on that board, n/a = not ranked there), data licensed CC BY 4.0. See how we pick.
Where each one ranks on LMArena
Relative score out of 100 on each leaderboard (100 = the top model we price there), with the rank among the models from our API price table that appear on that board.
- Coding (Code Arena): MiniMax-M3 #34 of 50 (0/100), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #12 of 50 (46/100)
- Chat (Text Arena): MiniMax-M3 #41 of 51 (0/100), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #18 of 51 (17/100)
- Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing): MiniMax-M3 #40 of 51 (0/100), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #22 of 51 (0/100)
- Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn): MiniMax-M3 #32 of 51 (0/100), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #24 of 51 (0/100)
- Reasoning and math (Text Arena math): MiniMax-M3 #42 of 51 (0/100), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #14 of 51 (40/100)
- Vision (Vision Arena): MiniMax-M3 #30 of 33 (0/100), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #19 of 33 (14/100)
- Long documents (Document Arena): MiniMax-M3 #11 of 11 (36/100), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash not ranked
- Cheap bulk and agents (Agent Arena): MiniMax-M3 #33 of 34 (18/100), DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #16 of 34 (50/100)
Pricing details from the official pages
MiniMax-M3 lists $0.30 input, $1.20 output, $0.06 cached input per 1M tokens on MiniMax pricing. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash lists $0.30 input, $1.20 output, $0.006 cached input per 1M tokens on DeepSeek pricing. Prices checked 2026-10-29.
- MiniMax-M3: Prompts up to 512K tokens. Longer prompts cost $0.60 in, $2.40 out. MiniMax lists these as permanent 50% off its $0.60 in, $2.40 out list price.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Peak rate. Off-peak is half price.
Sample monthly bill at list price, no caching: Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $1.20 vs $1.20. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $12 vs $12. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $120 vs $120.
FAQ
Is MiniMax-M3 cheaper than DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?
They have the same list price: $0.30 input and $1.20 output per 1M tokens.
Which is better for coding, MiniMax-M3 or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?
On LMArena's Code Arena MiniMax-M3 scores 0/100 (#34 of 50) and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 46/100 (#12 of 50), so DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is ahead by 46 points.
Which has the bigger context window?
MiniMax-M3: n/a. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: 1M tokens. Long prompts can cost more; see the pricing notes above.
How much do MiniMax-M3 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash cost per month?
Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $1.20 vs $1.20. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $12 vs $12. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $120 vs $120. Pick your own token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
Where do these numbers come from?
Prices come from each provider's official pricing page, checked daily. Quality is the relative score on the LMArena leaderboard dataset, licensed CC BY 4.0. Where a model is not ranked we show n/a.
Sources
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