Model comparison

MiniMax-M2.1 vs Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct

MiniMax-M2.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.9 to 33.0 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.

MiniMax-M2.1 MiniMax

38.9

Rank #178 Confirmed

Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct Microsoft

33.0

Rank #250 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax-M2.1 scores higher in 7 categories and Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where MiniMax-M2.1 leads 58.3 to 34.1.

Side by side

MiniMax-M2.1 and Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct specifications
MiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
ProviderMiniMaxMicrosoft
Noometry Index38.933.0
Released2025-12-23—
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window205K—
Max output131K—
Input $ / M tokens$0.30—
Output $ / M tokens$1.20—
Results tracked2217

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Category by category

Coding MiniMax-M2.1 leads

MiniMax-M2.1: 40.4 (#143), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 32.9 (#268)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Coding14211130
LMArena WebDev1384—
ALE-Bench623.83—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

MiniMax-M2.1: 27.9 (#98), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
Terminal-Bench36.6%—

Reasoning Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct leads

MiniMax-M2.1: 16.6 (#302), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 21.7 (#214)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Hard Prompts14111127
NYT Connections (extended)11.2%—

Math MiniMax-M2.1 leads

MiniMax-M2.1: 38.3 (#138), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 33.4 (#202)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Math13971173

Knowledge MiniMax-M2.1 leads

MiniMax-M2.1: 38.3 (#147), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 30.2 (#229)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Expert14311108
Vectara Hallucination Rate11.8%—

Multilingual MiniMax-M2.1 leads

MiniMax-M2.1: 50.0 (#128), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 30.6 (#263)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Non-English13781094
LMArena Chinese14301108
LMArena French14041110
LMArena German13811101
LMArena Japanese12871042
LMArena Korean1298954
LMArena Russian13871145
LMArena Spanish13971095

Instruction Following MiniMax-M2.1 leads

MiniMax-M2.1: 73.8 (#112), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 57.6 (#268)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Instruction Following14001113

Long Context MiniMax-M2.1 leads

MiniMax-M2.1: 43.2 (#101), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 34.0 (#255)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Longer Query14161120

Writing & Preference MiniMax-M2.1 leads

MiniMax-M2.1: 58.3 (#120), Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct: 34.1 (#272)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.1Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct
LMArena Text13921138
LMArena Creative Writing13611107
LMArena Multi-Turn13961088

Frequently asked questions

Is MiniMax-M2.1 better than Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct?

MiniMax-M2.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.9 to 33.0 on the Noometry Index.

Is MiniMax-M2.1 or Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct better for coding?

MiniMax-M2.1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.4 versus 32.9 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do MiniMax-M2.1 and Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax-M2.1 has 22 scored results on Noometry and Phi 3 Medium 4k Instruct has 17.

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