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Claude Opus 4.6 vs MiniMax M2.1

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 45.0 to 31.9. MiniMax M2.1 is 19.0x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · MiniMax · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 45.0 to 31.9, ranking #33 overall.

In the 7 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude Opus 4.6 wins 7; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, MiniMax M2.1 is roughly 19.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Claude Opus 4.6

  • overall performance matters — it scores 45.0 and ranks #33 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 7 of 7 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026

Choose MiniMax M2.1

  • cost matters — it's about 19.0x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Opus 4.6
Anthropic
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
45.0
#33
31.9
#108
Reasoning
45.4
#28
32.2
#103
Coding
32.9
#37
22.2
#81
Agents
28.3
#40
18.2
#69
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
7 of 7
0 of 7
Input price
$5.00 / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
$25.00 / M
$1.20 / M
Context window
1,000,000
1,000,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
Claude Opus 4.6
MiniMax M2.1
Math
40.1#16
27.5#98
Tool use
24.1#38
13.8#95
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

27 reported for Claude Opus 4.6 · 25 for MiniMax M2.1

7 shared

Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 7 benchmarks (AIME 2025, BrowseComp, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified, Tau2 Telecom), while MiniMax M2.1 is better at 0 benchmarks.

Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Sep 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

MiniMax M2.1 costs less

For input processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 16.7x more expensive than MiniMax M2.1 ($0.30/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 20.8x more expensive than MiniMax M2.1 ($1.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.6 is more expensive than MiniMax M2.1.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Sun Sep 13 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input tokens$5.00
Output tokens$25.00
Best providerAnthropic
MiniMax
MiniMax M2.1
Input tokens$0.30
Output tokens$1.20
Best providerMiniMax
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Both models have the same input context window of 1,000,000 tokens. MiniMax M2.1 can generate longer responses up to 1,000,000 tokens, while Claude Opus 4.6 is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Opus 4.6
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
MiniMax
MiniMax M2.1
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output1,000,000 tokens
Sun Sep 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Claude Opus 4.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas MiniMax M2.1 does not.

Claude Opus 4.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Claude Opus 4.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

MiniMax M2.1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Claude Opus 4.6 is licensed under a proprietary license, while MiniMax M2.1 uses MIT.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Claude Opus 4.6

Proprietary

Closed source

MiniMax M2.1

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Opus 4.6 was released on 2026-02-05, while MiniMax M2.1 was released on 2025-12-23.

Claude Opus 4.6 is 1 month newer than MiniMax M2.1.

Claude Opus 4.6

Feb 5, 2026

7 months ago

1mo newer
MiniMax M2.1

Dec 23, 2025

8 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Provider Availability

Claude Opus 4.6 is available from Anthropic. MiniMax M2.1 is available from MiniMax.

Claude Opus 4.6

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $5.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $25.00/1M

MiniMax M2.1

minimax logo
MiniMax
Input Price:Input: $0.30/1MOutput Price:Output: $1.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4.6 and MiniMax M2.1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Opus 4.6
✓ Preferred
MiniMax M2.1
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs MiniMax M2.1.

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or MiniMax M2.1?

Claude Opus 4.6 leads the LLM Stats Score 45.0 to 31.9. Claude Opus 4.6 is made by Anthropic and MiniMax M2.1 is made by MiniMax. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Claude Opus 4.6 compare to MiniMax M2.1 in benchmarks?

Claude Opus 4.6 scores Vending-Bench 2: 100.0%, AIME 2025: 99.8%, Tau2 Telecom: 99.3%, Graphwalks parents >128k: 95.4%, Tau2 Retail: 91.9%. MiniMax M2.1 scores VIBE Web: 91.5%, VIBE Android: 89.7%, VIBE: 88.6%, MMLU-Pro: 88.0%, VIBE iOS: 88.0%.

Is Claude Opus 4.6 cheaper than MiniMax M2.1?

MiniMax M2.1 is 16.7x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.00/M input and $25.00/M output via anthropic. MiniMax M2.1 costs $0.30/M input and $1.20/M output via minimax.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Opus 4.6 and MiniMax M2.1?

Claude Opus 4.6 supports 1.0M tokens and MiniMax M2.1 supports 1.0M tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Claude Opus 4.6 and MiniMax M2.1?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (45.0 vs 31.9), input pricing ($5.00 vs $0.30/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Opus 4.6 and MiniMax M2.1?

Claude Opus 4.6 is developed by Anthropic and MiniMax M2.1 is developed by MiniMax.

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