# MiniMax M1 vs MiniMax-M2

> MiniMax M1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 36.9 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2 costs 1.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when MiniMax M1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/minimax-m1-vs-minimax-m2
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 15

## Summary

- They share 15 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax M1 scores higher in 6 categories and MiniMax-M2 in 2 categories; one gap is clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where MiniMax M1 leads 25.8 to 18.6.
- MiniMax-M2 is cheaper at $0.30 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.40 / $2.20 for MiniMax M1.
- MiniMax M1 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 205K.

## Snapshot

| | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | MiniMax |
| Noometry Index | 39.7 | 36.9 |
| Rank | 146 | 201 |
| Context | 1M | 205K |
| Input $/M | $0.40 | $0.30 |
| Output $/M | $2.20 | $1.20 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- MiniMax M1: 39.2 (#149)
- MiniMax-M2: 39.1 (#151)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1359 | 1370 |
| SWE-bench Verified (bash only) | — | 61% |
| LMArena WebDev | — | 1297 |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- MiniMax M1: —
- MiniMax-M2: 24.9 (#102)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | — | 30% |
| Vending-Bench 2 | — | 160.6 |

## Reasoning

- MiniMax M1: 25.8 (#125)
- MiniMax-M2: 18.6 (#256)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1340 | 1357 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 57.8% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 14.8% |

## Math

- MiniMax M1: 34.8 (#152)
- MiniMax-M2: 34.6 (#158)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1360 | 1350 |

## Knowledge

- MiniMax M1: 35.7 (#168)
- MiniMax-M2: 36.3 (#160)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1316 | 1336 |

## Multilingual

- MiniMax M1: 46.0 (#157)
- MiniMax-M2: 45.6 (#165)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1320 | 1314 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1361 | 1367 |
| LMArena French | 1369 | 1336 |
| LMArena German | 1350 | 1366 |
| LMArena Russian | 1330 | 1332 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1354 | 1326 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1220 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1263 | — |

## Instruction Following

- MiniMax M1: 69.5 (#169)
- MiniMax-M2: 70.4 (#160)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1312 | 1329 |

## Long Context

- MiniMax M1: 41.4 (#136)
- MiniMax-M2: 40.5 (#148)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1326 | 1332 |
| Fiction.LiveBench | 69.4% | — |

## Writing & Preference

- MiniMax M1: 53.3 (#155)
- MiniMax-M2: 53.3 (#157)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | MiniMax-M2 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1343 | 1340 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1298 | 1288 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1335 | 1362 |

## FAQ

### Is MiniMax M1 better than MiniMax-M2?

MiniMax M1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 36.9 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2 costs 1.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when MiniMax M1's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

### Which is cheaper, MiniMax M1 or MiniMax-M2?

MiniMax-M2 is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; MiniMax M1 lists at $0.40 and $2.20.

### Is MiniMax M1 or MiniMax-M2 better for coding?

They score almost the same on coding (39.2 vs 39.1); test both on your own repository before choosing.

### Which has the bigger context window?

MiniMax M1 does, with 1M tokens against 205K.

### How many benchmarks do MiniMax M1 and MiniMax-M2 share?

15 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax M1 has 18 scored results on Noometry and MiniMax-M2 has 21.