Noometry

Model comparison

MiniMax-M2.5 vs Step 3.5 Flash

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 38.3 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 18 shared benchmarks.

MiniMax-M2.5 MiniMax

38.3

Rank #188 Confirmed

Step 3.5 Flash StepFun

42.3

Rank #116 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher in 1 category and Step 3.5 Flash in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 42.6 to 26.9.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is NYT Connections (extended): 16.8% for MiniMax-M2.5 and 28.4% for Step 3.5 Flash.
  • Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $0.30 / $1.20 for MiniMax-M2.5.
  • Step 3.5 Flash accepts more context: 256K tokens versus 205K.

Side by side

MiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
ProviderMiniMaxStepFun
Noometry Index38.342.3
Released2026-02-122026-01-29
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window205K256K
Max output131K256K
Input $ / M tokens$0.30$0.10
Output $ / M tokens$1.20$0.30
Results tracked3319

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Category by category

Coding MiniMax-M2.5 leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 48.1 (#58), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Coding13811436
SWE-bench Verified (bash only)75.8%—
LMArena WebDev1387—
SWE-bench Multilingual68.3%—
ALE-Bench618.17—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

MiniMax-M2.5: 30.4 (#77), Step 3.5 Flash: —

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
Terminal-Bench42.7%—
Vending-Bench 2-23.16—

Reasoning Step 3.5 Flash leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 17.5 (#292), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
NYT Connections (extended)16.8%28.4%
LMArena Hard Prompts13721411
ARC-AGI-24.9%—
Kagi LLM Benchmark55.2%—
ARC-AGI-163.7%—
Epoch Capabilities Index146.68—

Math Step 3.5 Flash leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 26.9 (#253), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Math13781408
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions—66.8%
ProofBench4%—

Knowledge Too close to call

MiniMax-M2.5: 39.2 (#135), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Expert13791421
Vectara Hallucination Rate9.1%—

Multilingual Step 3.5 Flash leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 47.1 (#152), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Non-English13381385
LMArena Chinese13931447
LMArena French13621421
LMArena German13621405
LMArena Japanese11711354
LMArena Korean12321352
LMArena Russian13581385
LMArena Spanish13541419

Instruction Following Step 3.5 Flash leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 71.5 (#148), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Instruction Following13531385

Long Context Step 3.5 Flash leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 37.5 (#216), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Longer Query13661402
CL-bench11.4%—
CL-bench Life6.3%—

Writing & Preference Step 3.5 Flash leads

MiniMax-M2.5: 53.9 (#153), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)

BenchmarkMiniMax-M2.5Step 3.5 Flash
LMArena Text13591403
LMArena Creative Writing13311357
LMArena Multi-Turn13641405
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1361—

Frequently asked questions

Is MiniMax-M2.5 better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 42.3 to 38.3 on the Noometry Index.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M2.5 or Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; MiniMax-M2.5 lists at $0.30 and $1.20.

Is MiniMax-M2.5 or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 48.1 versus 42.4 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Step 3.5 Flash does, with 256K tokens against 205K.

How many benchmarks do MiniMax-M2.5 and Step 3.5 Flash share?

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax-M2.5 has 33 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.

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