Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs MiniMax M1 80K
Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 58.0 to 21.4. MiniMax M1 80K is 4.2x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · MiniMax · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 58.0 to 21.4, ranking #3 overall.
On price, MiniMax M1 80K is roughly 4.2x 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 Sonnet 5.5
- overall performance matters — it scores 58.0 and ranks #3 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2026
Choose MiniMax M1 80K
- cost matters — it's about 4.2x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
47 reported for Claude Sonnet 5.5 · 16 for MiniMax M1 80K
Claude Sonnet 5.5 and MiniMax M1 80Kdon'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
For input processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 3.6x more expensive than MiniMax M1 80K ($0.55/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($10.00/1M tokens) is 4.5x more expensive than MiniMax M1 80K ($2.20/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 5.5 is more expensive than MiniMax M1 80K.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Both models have the same input context window of 1,000,000 tokens. Claude Sonnet 5.5 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while MiniMax M1 80K is limited to 40,000 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Claude Sonnet 5.5 supports multimodal inputs, whereas MiniMax M1 80K does not.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude Sonnet 5.5
MiniMax M1 80K
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude Sonnet 5.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while MiniMax M1 80K 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 5.5 was released on 2026-09-28, while MiniMax M1 80K was released on 2025-06-16.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 is 16 months newer than MiniMax M1 80K.
Sep 28, 2026
3 days ago
1.3yr newerJun 16, 2025
1.3 years ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Claude Sonnet 5.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-06-01, while MiniMax M1 80K's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm Claude Sonnet 5.5's training data extends to 2026-06-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without MiniMax M1 80K's cutoff date.
Jun 2026
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Provider Availability
Claude Sonnet 5.5 is available from Anthropic. MiniMax M1 80K is available from Novita.
Claude Sonnet 5.5
MiniMax M1 80K
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Sonnet 5.5 and MiniMax M1 80K side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs MiniMax M1 80K.