Model comparison
MiniMax-M2.1 vs Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 38.9 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2.1 costs 2.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 14 shared benchmarks.
MiniMax
StepFunSummary
- They share 14 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax-M2.1 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 16.6.
- MiniMax-M2.1 is cheaper at $0.30 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
- Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 205K.
- MiniMax-M2.1 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 38.9 | 47.9 |
| Released | 2025-12-23 | 2026-09-16 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 205K | 1.02M |
| Max output | 131K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.30 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $1.20 | $2.70 |
| Results tracked | 22 | 18 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax-M2.1: 40.4 (#143), Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1384 | 1564 |
| LMArena Coding | 1421 | 1480 |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
| ALE-Bench | 623.83 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
MiniMax-M2.1: 27.9 (#98), Step 5 Preview: —
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 36.6% | — |
Reasoning Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax-M2.1: 16.6 (#302), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1411 | 1465 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 11.2% | — |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
Math Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax-M2.1: 38.3 (#138), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1397 | 1470 |
| ProofBench | — | 42% |
Knowledge Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax-M2.1: 38.3 (#147), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1431 | 1470 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 11.8% | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
MiniMax-M2.1: —, Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1267 |
Multilingual Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax-M2.1: 50.0 (#128), Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1378 | 1432 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1430 | 1519 |
| LMArena Russian | 1387 | 1436 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1397 | 1439 |
| LMArena French | 1404 | — |
| LMArena German | 1381 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1287 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1298 | — |
Instruction Following Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax-M2.1: 73.8 (#112), Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1400 | 1444 |
Long Context Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax-M2.1: 43.2 (#101), Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1416 | 1455 |
Writing & Preference Step 5 Preview leads
MiniMax-M2.1: 58.3 (#120), Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1392 | 1442 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1361 | 1410 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1396 | 1447 |
Frequently asked questions
Is MiniMax-M2.1 better than Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.9 to 38.9 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2.1 costs 2.7× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Step 5 Preview's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M2.1 or Step 5 Preview?
MiniMax-M2.1 is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.
Is MiniMax-M2.1 or Step 5 Preview better for coding?
Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 51.8 versus 40.4 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks do MiniMax-M2.1 and Step 5 Preview share?
14 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax-M2.1 has 22 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.