# MiniMax-M2 vs Step 5 Preview

> Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 36.9 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2 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-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 1

## Summary

- They share 1 benchmark with published results for both. MiniMax-M2 scores higher in 0 categories and Step 5 Preview in 2 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Step 5 Preview leads 38.0 to 18.6.
- MiniMax-M2 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 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 36.9 | 43.8 |
| Rank | 201 | 78 |
| Context | 205K | 1.02M |
| Input $/M | $0.30 | $1 |
| Output $/M | $1.20 | $2.70 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- MiniMax-M2: 39.1 (#151)
- Step 5 Preview: 50.6 (#40)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1297 | 1569 |
| SWE-bench Verified (bash only) | 61% | — |
| SciCode | — | 58.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1370 | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- MiniMax-M2: 24.9 (#102)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | 30% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 160.6 | — |

## Reasoning

- MiniMax-M2: 18.6 (#256)
- Step 5 Preview: 38.0 (#58)

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 57.8% | — |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 14.8% | — |
| CritPt | — | 20.9% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1357 | — |

## Math

- MiniMax-M2: 34.6 (#158)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1350 | — |

## Knowledge

- MiniMax-M2: 36.3 (#160)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1336 | — |

## Multilingual

- MiniMax-M2: 45.6 (#165)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1314 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1367 | — |
| LMArena French | 1336 | — |
| LMArena German | 1366 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1332 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1326 | — |

## Instruction Following

- MiniMax-M2: 70.4 (#160)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1329 | — |

## Long Context

- MiniMax-M2: 40.5 (#148)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1332 | — |

## Writing & Preference

- MiniMax-M2: 53.3 (#157)
- Step 5 Preview: —

| Benchmark | MiniMax-M2 | Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1340 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1288 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1362 | — |

## FAQ

### Is MiniMax-M2 better than Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.8 to 36.9 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M2 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 or Step 5 Preview?

MiniMax-M2 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 or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

Step 5 Preview scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.6 versus 39.1 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 and Step 5 Preview share?

1 benchmark has published results for both models. MiniMax-M2 has 21 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 3.