Model comparison
MiniMax M1 vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 40.3 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 13 shared benchmarks.
MiniMax
StepFunSummary
- They share 13 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax M1 scores higher in 0 categories and Step 5 Preview in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 40.0 to 26.9.
- MiniMax M1 is cheaper at $0.55 / $2.20 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 1M.
- MiniMax M1 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 40.3 | 47.9 |
| Released | 2025-06-13 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1M | 1.02M |
| Max output | 40K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.55 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $2.20 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 18 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax M1: 39.9 (#153), Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1359 | 1480 |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1564 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax M1: 26.9 (#126), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1339 | 1465 |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
Math Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax M1: 37.5 (#151), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1361 | 1470 |
| ProofBench | — | 42% |
Knowledge Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax M1: 36.4 (#170), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1317 | 1470 |
Multimodal Not comparable
MiniMax M1: —, Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1267 |
Multilingual Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax M1: 45.8 (#163), Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1319 | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1360 | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | 1329 | 1436 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1353 | 1439 |
| LMArena French | 1370 | — |
| LMArena German | 1350 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1217 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1266 | — |
Instruction Following Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax M1: 69.3 (#174), Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1312 | 1444 |
Long Context Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax M1: 41.4 (#141), Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1326 | 1455 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 69.4% | — |
Writing & Preference Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax M1: 53.1 (#161), Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1343 | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1298 | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1335 | 1447 |
Frequently asked questions
Is MiniMax M1 better than Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 40.3 on the Noometry Index.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M1 or Step 5 Preview?
MiniMax M1 is cheaper. It lists at $0.55 per million input tokens and $2.20 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Is MiniMax M1 or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 39.9 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks do MiniMax M1 and Step 5 Preview share?
13 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax M1 has 18 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.