Model comparison
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs MiniMax-M2.1
Gemini 3.8 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 38.4 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2.1 costs 2.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.8 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 20 shared benchmarks.
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MiniMaxSummary
- They share 20 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher in 9 categories and MiniMax-M2.1 in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Gemini 3.8 Flash leads 64.7 to 15.8.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is NYT Connections (extended): 97.4% for Gemini 3.8 Flash and 11.2% for MiniMax-M2.1.
- MiniMax-M2.1 is cheaper at $0.30 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.75 / $3.75 for Gemini 3.8 Flash.
- Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 205K.
- MiniMax-M2.1 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | |
| Noometry Index | 59.5 | 38.4 |
| Released | 2026-09-02 | 2025-12-23 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| Context window | 1.05M | 205K |
| Max output | 66K | 131K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.75 | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $3.75 | $1.20 |
| Results tracked | 46 | 22 |
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Category by category
Coding Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 56.4 (#17), MiniMax-M2.1: 40.1 (#132)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1581 | 1384 |
| LMArena Coding | 1512 | 1421 |
| ALE-Bench | 1,270 | 623.83 |
| DeepSWE | 73.8% | — |
| FrontierCode | 41.2% | — |
| CursorBench | 39.6% | — |
| FrontierSWE | 19.6% | — |
| SciCode | 56.6% | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 40.3 (#22), MiniMax-M2.1: 27.7 (#91)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | — | 36.6% |
| APEX-Agents | 64.3% | — |
| GDP.pdf | 23.4% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 5,094 | — |
Reasoning Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 64.7 (#13), MiniMax-M2.1: 15.8 (#301)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections (extended) | 97.4% | 11.2% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1506 | 1410 |
| CritPt | 18.3% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 61% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 47% | — |
| DTBench | 95.7% | — |
| LMCA | 52.9% | — |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 76.9% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 157.13 | — |
Math Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 65.2 (#22), MiniMax-M2.1: 35.6 (#142)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1528 | 1396 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 68.4% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 22% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 98.9% | — |
| ProofBench | 48% | — |
Knowledge Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 74.9 (#2), MiniMax-M2.1: 37.7 (#143)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1529 | 1432 |
| GPQA Diamond | 95.4% | — |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 44.5% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 69.7% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 11.8% |
Multimodal Not comparable
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 40.9 (#33), MiniMax-M2.1: —
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1312 | — |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | 38.6% | — |
| Furniture Assembly | 31.7% | — |
Multilingual Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 57.9 (#5), MiniMax-M2.1: 50.2 (#123)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1486 | 1378 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1547 | 1430 |
| LMArena French | 1502 | 1405 |
| LMArena German | 1470 | 1380 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1505 | 1287 |
| LMArena Korean | 1479 | 1297 |
| LMArena Russian | 1507 | 1386 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1492 | 1396 |
Instruction Following Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 78.2 (#11), MiniMax-M2.1: 74.0 (#108)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1489 | 1399 |
Long Context Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 46.2 (#23), MiniMax-M2.1: 43.2 (#98)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1506 | 1416 |
Writing & Preference Gemini 3.8 Flash leads
Gemini 3.8 Flash: 72.1 (#16), MiniMax-M2.1: 58.5 (#114)
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.8 Flash | MiniMax-M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1494 | 1392 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1485 | 1362 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1503 | 1396 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1748 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Gemini 3.8 Flash better than MiniMax-M2.1?
Gemini 3.8 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 38.4 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2.1 costs 2.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.8 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash or MiniMax-M2.1?
MiniMax-M2.1 is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.8 Flash lists at $0.75 and $3.75.
Is Gemini 3.8 Flash or MiniMax-M2.1 better for coding?
Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 56.4 versus 40.1 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.8 Flash does, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.8 Flash and MiniMax-M2.1 share?
20 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.8 Flash has 46 scored results on Noometry and MiniMax-M2.1 has 22.