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Claude Sonnet 4 vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 24.0. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 22.9x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · MiniMax · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the overall LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 24.0, ranking #29 overall.

On price, MiniMax M3.1 Flash is roughly 22.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

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

Choose Claude Sonnet 4

  • you want predictable pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output

Choose MiniMax M3.1 Flash

  • overall performance matters — it scores 48.5 and ranks #29 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • cost matters — it's about 22.9x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Sonnet 4
Anthropic
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
24.0
#188
48.5
#29
Reasoning
24.1
#180
45.8
#34
Coding
16.6
#143
37.8
#23
Agents
5.6
#166
35.6
#23
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$3.00 / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
$15.00 / M
$0.60 / M
Context window
200,000
1,000,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Claude Sonnet 4
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Tool use
18.4#79
26.8#30
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

8 reported for Claude Sonnet 4 · 14 for MiniMax M3.1 Flash

No common benchmarks found

Claude Sonnet 4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flashdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs less

For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 20.0x more expensive than MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 25.0x more expensive than MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.60/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4 is more expensive than MiniMax M3.1 Flash.*

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

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Oct 19 2026 • llm-stats.com
Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4
Input tokens$3.00
Output tokens$15.00
Best providerAnthropic
MiniMax
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$0.60
Best providerMiniMax
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

MiniMax M3.1 Flash accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Claude Sonnet 4's 200,000 tokens. MiniMax M3.1 Flash can generate longer responses up to 524,288 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4 is limited to 64,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 4
Input200,000 tokens
Output64,000 tokens
MiniMax
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output524,288 tokens
Mon Oct 19 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Claude Sonnet 4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude Sonnet 4

Text
Images
Audio
Video

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude Sonnet 4

Proprietary

Closed source

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 4 was released on 2025-05-22, while MiniMax M3.1 Flash was released on 2026-10-19.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 17 months newer than Claude Sonnet 4.

Claude Sonnet 4

May 22, 2025

1.4 years ago

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Oct 19, 2026

0 days ago

1.4yr newer

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 Sonnet 4 is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is available from MiniMax.

Claude Sonnet 4

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
bedrock logo
AWS Bedrock
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M
google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $3.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $15.00/1M

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

minimax logo
MiniMax
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.60/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 4
✓ Preferred
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4 vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4 or MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 24.0. Claude Sonnet 4 is made by Anthropic and MiniMax M3.1 Flash 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 Sonnet 4 compare to MiniMax M3.1 Flash in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4 scores MMMLU: 86.5%, TAU-bench Retail: 80.5%, GPQA: 75.4%, MMMU: 74.4%, SWE-Bench Verified: 72.7%. MiniMax M3.1 Flash scores BabyVision: 91.0%, CharXiv-R: 82.5%, CyberGym: 82.2%, BankerToolBench: 76.2%, DeepSWE 1.1: 73.7%.

Is Claude Sonnet 4 cheaper than MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 20.0x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output via anthropic. MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs $0.15/M input and $0.60/M output via minimax.

What are the context window sizes for Claude Sonnet 4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Claude Sonnet 4 supports 200K tokens and MiniMax M3.1 Flash 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 Sonnet 4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (24.0 vs 48.5), context window (200K vs 1.0M), input pricing ($3.00 vs $0.15/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 4 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Claude Sonnet 4 is developed by Anthropic and MiniMax M3.1 Flash is developed by MiniMax.

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