Claude Sonnet 5 vs MiniMax M3
Price, context window & benchmark comparison
VS
Compare different models
Verdict: MiniMax M3 is 7.6× cheaper than Claude Sonnet 5 on a typical 3:1 input/output mix. Claude Sonnet 5 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (38.2 vs 29.2). MiniMax M3 has the larger context window (1M vs 1M).
| Claude Sonnet 5 | MiniMax M3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $2.00 | $0.30 |
| Output price / 1M | $10.00 | $1.20 |
| Blended price (3:1) | $4.00 | $0.52 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.20 | $0.06 |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Max output | 128K | 512K |
| Intelligence index | 38.2 | 29.2 |
| Coding index | 71.5 | 58.6 |
| Providers | 10 | 13 |
| Best provider uptime (30m) | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| Vision input | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Released | 2026-06-30 | 2026-05-31 |
| Retirement | — | — |
Cost calculator
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or MiniMax M3?
MiniMax M3 is 7.6× cheaper than Claude Sonnet 5 on a typical 3:1 input/output mix.
Claude Sonnet 5 vs MiniMax M3: which has a bigger context window?
Claude Sonnet 5: 1,000,000 tokens. MiniMax M3: 1,048,576 tokens.
How much would 1 million requests cost?
At 2,000 input + 500 output tokens per request: Claude Sonnet 5 ≈ $9,000, MiniMax M3 ≈ $1,200.
More comparisons
Claude Sonnet 5 vs GLM 5.3 PrimeClaude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen3.8 Max PrimeClaude Sonnet 5 vs Command A+Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6 Luna ProClaude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6 LunaClaude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6 Sol ProClaude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6 SolClaude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Opus 5.5Claude Sonnet 5 vs MiMo-V2.6-Pro-UltraSpeedClaude Sonnet 5 vs MiMo-V2.6-FlashClaude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.7Claude Sonnet 5 vs Qwen3.8 Omni FlashClaude Sonnet 5 vs GLM 5.3 FlashXClaude Sonnet 5 vs DeepSeek V4.1 FlashClaude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6 AstraClaude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6 Astra ProMiniMax M3 vs GLM 5.3 PrimeMiniMax M3 vs Qwen3.8 Max PrimeMiniMax M3 vs Command A+MiniMax M3 vs GPT-6 Luna ProMiniMax M3 vs GPT-6 LunaMiniMax M3 vs GPT-6 Sol ProMiniMax M3 vs GPT-6 SolMiniMax M3 vs Claude Opus 5.5