# MiniMax-M2.1 vs Yi-Lightning

> MiniMax-M2.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.9 to 37.1 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/minimax-m2-1-vs-yi-lightning
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 17

## Summary

- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. MiniMax-M2.1 scores higher in 7 categories and Yi-Lightning in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in coding, where MiniMax-M2.1 leads 40.4 to 27.4.
- MiniMax-M2.1 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | 01.AI |
| Noometry Index | 38.9 | 37.1 |
| Rank | 178 | 209 |
| Context | 205K | — |
| Input $/M | $0.30 | — |
| Output $/M | $1.20 | — |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- MiniMax-M2.1: 40.4 (#143)
- Yi-Lightning: 27.4 (#320)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1421 | 1312 |
| Aider Polyglot | — | 12.9% |
| LMArena WebDev | 1384 | — |
| ALE-Bench | 623.83 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- MiniMax-M2.1: 27.9 (#98)
- Yi-Lightning: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 36.6% | — |

## Reasoning

- MiniMax-M2.1: 16.6 (#302)
- Yi-Lightning: 25.9 (#139)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1411 | 1302 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 11.2% | — |

## Math

- MiniMax-M2.1: 38.3 (#138)
- Yi-Lightning: 36.2 (#172)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1397 | 1300 |

## Knowledge

- MiniMax-M2.1: 38.3 (#147)
- Yi-Lightning: 35.4 (#185)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1431 | 1286 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 11.8% | — |

## Multilingual

- MiniMax-M2.1: 50.0 (#128)
- Yi-Lightning: 42.2 (#196)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1378 | 1269 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1430 | 1320 |
| LMArena French | 1404 | 1305 |
| LMArena German | 1381 | 1267 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1287 | 1228 |
| LMArena Korean | 1298 | 1192 |
| LMArena Russian | 1387 | 1255 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1397 | 1315 |

## Instruction Following

- MiniMax-M2.1: 73.8 (#112)
- Yi-Lightning: 67.4 (#196)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1400 | 1278 |

## Long Context

- MiniMax-M2.1: 43.2 (#101)
- Yi-Lightning: 39.4 (#181)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1416 | 1297 |

## Writing & Preference

- MiniMax-M2.1: 58.3 (#120)
- Yi-Lightning: 50.2 (#184)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2.1 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1392 | 1302 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1361 | 1280 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1396 | 1311 |

## FAQ

### Is MiniMax-M2.1 better than Yi-Lightning?

MiniMax-M2.1 is the stronger model overall, scoring 38.9 to 37.1 on the Noometry Index.

### Is MiniMax-M2.1 or Yi-Lightning better for coding?

MiniMax-M2.1 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 40.4 versus 27.4 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do MiniMax-M2.1 and Yi-Lightning share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. MiniMax-M2.1 has 22 scored results on Noometry and Yi-Lightning has 18.