# MiniMax M1 vs Sonar

> MiniMax M1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 37.8 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/minimax-m1-vs-sonar
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in reasoning, where MiniMax M1 leads 25.8 to 20.3.
- MiniMax M1 is cheaper at $0.40 / $2.20 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $1 for Sonar.
- MiniMax M1 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 128K.
- MiniMax M1 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | MiniMax M1 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | Perplexity |
| Noometry Index | 39.7 | 37.8 |
| Rank | 146 | 184 |
| Context | 1M | 128K |
| Input $/M | $0.40 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $2.20 | $1 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- MiniMax M1: 39.2 (#149)
- Sonar: 35.1 (#217)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Coding | — | 35.1% |
| LMArena Coding | 1359 | — |

## Reasoning

- MiniMax M1: 25.8 (#125)
- Sonar: 20.3 (#221)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Reasoning | — | 46.3% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1340 | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | — | 37.9% |
| LiveBench | — | 46.9% |

## Math

- MiniMax M1: 34.8 (#152)
- Sonar: 31.3 (#197)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Math | — | 41.6% |
| LMArena Math | 1360 | — |

## Knowledge

- MiniMax M1: 35.7 (#168)
- Sonar: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1316 | — |

## Multilingual

- MiniMax M1: 46.0 (#157)
- Sonar: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1320 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1361 | — |
| LMArena French | 1369 | — |
| LMArena German | 1350 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1220 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1263 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1330 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1354 | — |

## Instruction Following

- MiniMax M1: 69.5 (#169)
- Sonar: 71.5 (#146)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Instruction Following | — | 76.2% |
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1312 | — |

## Long Context

- MiniMax M1: 41.4 (#136)
- Sonar: —

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

## Writing & Preference

- MiniMax M1: 53.3 (#155)
- Sonar: 52.6 (#166)

| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1343 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1298 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1335 | — |
| LiveBench Language | — | 44.1% |

## FAQ

### Is MiniMax M1 better than Sonar?

MiniMax M1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 39.7 to 37.8 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, MiniMax M1 or Sonar?

MiniMax M1 is cheaper. It lists at $0.40 per million input tokens and $2.20 per million output tokens; Sonar lists at $1 and $1.

### Is MiniMax M1 or Sonar better for coding?

MiniMax M1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 39.2 versus 35.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

MiniMax M1 does, with 1M tokens against 128K.

### How many benchmarks do MiniMax M1 and Sonar share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax M1 has 18 scored results on Noometry and Sonar has 7.