Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs MiniMax M2
Claude Sonnet 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. MiniMax M2 is 11.4x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · MiniMax · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, Terminal-Bench), while MiniMax M2 is better at 0 benchmarks. Claude Sonnet 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, MiniMax M2 is roughly 11.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
MiniMax M2 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 benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude Sonnet 4.5
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
Choose MiniMax M2
- cost matters — it's about 11.4x 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 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude Sonnet 4.5 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (AIME 2025, GPQA, Terminal-Bench), while MiniMax M2 is better at 0 benchmarks.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($3.00/1M tokens) is 10.0x more expensive than MiniMax M2 ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Sonnet 4.5 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 12.5x more expensive than MiniMax M2 ($1.20/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 4.5 is more expensive than MiniMax M2.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
MiniMax M2 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Claude Sonnet 4.5's 200,000 tokens. MiniMax M2 can generate longer responses up to 1,000,000 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 4.5 is limited to 64,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports multimodal inputs, whereas MiniMax M2 does not.
Claude Sonnet 4.5 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
MiniMax M2
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while MiniMax M2 uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude Sonnet 4.5 was released on 2025-09-29, while MiniMax M2 was released on 2025-10-27.
MiniMax M2 is 1 month newer than Claude Sonnet 4.5.
Sep 29, 2025
11 months ago
Oct 27, 2025
10 months ago
4w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-01-31, while MiniMax M2's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Claude Sonnet 4.5's training data extends to 2025-01-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without MiniMax M2's cutoff date.
Jan 2025
—
Provider Availability
Claude Sonnet 4.5 is available from Anthropic. MiniMax M2 is available from MiniMax, Novita.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
MiniMax M2
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 4.5 and MiniMax M2 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs MiniMax M2.