Model comparison

MiniMax-M2.5 vs Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct

MiniMax-M2.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.1 to 29.1 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.

MiniMax-M2.5 MiniMax

38.1

Rank #181 Confirmed

Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct Microsoft

29.1

Rank #303 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher in 6 categories and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct in 2 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where MiniMax-M2.5 leads 54.1 to 27.3.

Side by side

MiniMax-M2.5 and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct specifications
MiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
ProviderMiniMaxMicrosoft
Noometry Index38.129.1
Released2026-02-122024-04-23
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window205K—
Max output131K—
Input $ / M tokens$0.30—
Output $ / M tokens$1.20—
Results tracked3319

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Category by category

Coding MiniMax-M2.5 leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 47.9 (#53), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 28.3 (#307)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Coding13801040
SWE-bench Verified (bash only)75.8%—
LMArena WebDev1386—
SWE-bench Multilingual68.3%—
BigCodeBench Instruct—29.6%
BigCodeBench Complete—40.6%
ALE-Bench618.17—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

MiniMax-M2.5: 30.2 (#70), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
Terminal-Bench42.7%—
Vending-Bench 2-23.16—

Reasoning Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 17.6 (#281), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 18.7 (#254)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Hard Prompts13721028
ARC-AGI-24.9%—
Kagi LLM Benchmark55.2%—
NYT Connections (extended)16.8%—
ARC-AGI-163.7%—
Epoch Capabilities Index146.68—

Math Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 25.8 (#242), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 29.2 (#220)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Math13781089
ProofBench4%—

Knowledge MiniMax-M2.5 leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 38.6 (#132), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 26.3 (#251)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Expert1378984
Vectara Hallucination Rate9.1%—

Multilingual MiniMax-M2.5 leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 47.3 (#147), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 25.4 (#280)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Non-English13381000
LMArena Chinese13921016
LMArena French13631038
LMArena German13611006
LMArena Japanese1169899
LMArena Korean1232856
LMArena Russian13591004
LMArena Spanish13541058

Instruction Following MiniMax-M2.5 leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 71.7 (#143), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 52.1 (#289)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Instruction Following13531023

Long Context MiniMax-M2.5 leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 37.4 (#211), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 30.3 (#284)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Longer Query1367996
CL-bench11.4%—
CL-bench Life6.3%—

Writing & Preference MiniMax-M2.5 leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 54.1 (#149), Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct: 27.3 (#296)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct
LMArena Text13591050
LMArena Creative Writing13311024
LMArena Multi-Turn1364989
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1361—

Frequently asked questions

Is MiniMax-M2.5 better than Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct?

MiniMax-M2.5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.1 to 29.1 on the Noometry Index.

Is MiniMax-M2.5 or Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct better for coding?

MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 47.9 versus 28.3 in the Noometry coding category.

How many benchmarks do MiniMax-M2.5 and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax-M2.5 has 33 scored results on Noometry and Phi 3 Mini 128k Instruct has 19.

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