# 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.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/minimax-m2-1-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-11
- Shared benchmarks: 14

## Summary

- 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.

## Snapshot

| | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 38.9 | 47.9 |
| Rank | 178 | 58 |
| Context | 205K | 1.02M |
| Input $/M | $0.30 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $1.20 | $2.70 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- 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

- MiniMax-M2.1: 27.9 (#98)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 36.6% | — |

## Reasoning

- 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

- 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

- 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

- MiniMax-M2.1: —
- Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | — | 1267 |

## Multilingual

- 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

- 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

- 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

- 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 |

## FAQ

### 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.