MiniMax-M3 API pricing
Official MiniMax list price, last checked Oct 29, 2026. Updated Oct 29, 2026.
MiniMax-M3 costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens, cached input at $0.06, per MiniMax's official pricing page (checked Oct 29, 2026). It's priced in the middle of the pack: number 16 of 77 by blended price ($0.525 per 1M tokens at a 3 to 1 input to output mix). On LMArena's Code Arena it ranks #34 of 50 models we price (relative score 0 out of 100). Cheaper pick: MiMo-V2.6 Flash scores 36 against 0 on the same board at $0.175 blended, 3.0x less.
MiniMax-M3 price per million tokens
| MiniMax-M3 price per million tokens | USD |
|---|---|
| Input | $0.30 |
| Cached input | $0.06 |
| Output | $1.20 |
| Blended, 3 parts input to 1 part output | $0.525 |
| Context window | Not listed |
| Prompts above 512K | $0.60 in, $2.40 out |
Official note from MiniMax: 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.
What MiniMax-M3 costs for real work
List-price estimates for a month, no discounts. Our math, not a quote: change the token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
| Workload | Tokens a month | MiniMax-M3 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | MiMo-V2.6 Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light: a side project or personal assistant | 2M in, 0.5M out | $1.20 | $1.20 | $0.42 |
| Medium: a small team or one product feature | 20M in, 5M out | $12.00 | $12.00 | $4.20 |
| Heavy: a production app | 200M in, 50M out | $120 | $120 | $42.00 |
| Medium with 80% of input cached | 20M in (16M cached), 5M out | $8.16 | $7.30 | $2.00 |
| Medium, every prompt above the long-prompt threshold | 20M in, 5M out | $24.00 | $12.00 | $4.20 |
How MiniMax-M3 ranks on LMArena
Relative score: 100 is the top model we price on that board. Rank is among the models in our price table, not the full leaderboard.
| Board | Rank | Score /100 |
|---|---|---|
| Coding (Code Arena) | #34 of 50 | 0 |
| Chat (Text Arena) | #41 of 51 | 0 |
| Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing) | #40 of 51 | 0 |
| Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn) | #32 of 51 | 0 |
| Reasoning and math (Text Arena math) | #42 of 51 | 0 |
| Vision (Vision Arena) | #30 of 33 | 0 |
| Long documents (Document Arena) | #11 of 11 | 36 |
| Cheap bulk and agents (Agent Arena) | #33 of 34 | 18 |
Closest rivals to MiniMax-M3
The models nearest in price, other makers first. Ranks are on Code Arena, where we have them.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.525 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash wins: same price, higher score. Compare |
| MiMo-V2.6 Pro | $0.435 / $0.87 | $0.5437 | MiMo-V2.6 Pro for quality, MiniMax-M3 for price. Compare |
| Qwen3.6 Flash | $0.25 / $1.50 | $0.5625 | MiniMax-M3 wins on price. Compare |
| GLM-5.3 FlashX | $0.37 / $1.25 | $0.59 | MiniMax-M3 wins on price. Compare |
Cheaper alternatives to MiniMax-M3
At least 40% cheaper blended, best LMArena score first.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| MiMo-V2.6 Flash | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.175 | MiMo-V2.6 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| GLM-5.3 Flash | $0.15 / $0.50 | $0.2375 | GLM-5.3 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 / $0.50 | $0.20 | Claude Haiku 5.5 wins on both. Compare |
More from MiniMax
FAQ
How much does the MiniMax-M3 API cost per million tokens?
$0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens, plus $0.06 per 1M for cached input, as of Oct 29, 2026. A typical 3 to 1 input to output mix works out to $0.525 per 1M tokens.
Does MiniMax-M3 charge more for long prompts?
Yes. Prompts above 512K: $0.60 in, $2.40 out.
Is MiniMax-M3 cheaper than DeepSeek V4.1 Flash?
About the same. A medium month (20M input and 5M output tokens) costs $12.00 on MiniMax-M3 and $12.00 on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash at list price. On Code Arena, MiniMax-M3 ranks #34 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash #12.
How does MiniMax-M3 rank on LMArena?
On Code Arena it is #34 of 50 models we price, with a relative score of 0 out of 100. It ranks on 8 of 8 boards we track.
What is a cheaper alternative to MiniMax-M3?
MiMo-V2.6 Flash costs $0.14 in and $0.28 out per 1M tokens, about 3.0x less blended, and scores 36 on Code Arena against 0 for MiniMax-M3.
Where does this MiniMax-M3 price come from?
From MiniMax's official pricing page, which we check every day. This page was last checked Oct 29, 2026.