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Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 58.3 to 48.5. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 15.2x cheaper per token.

Anthropic · MiniMax · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 58.3 to 48.5, ranking #2 overall.

In the 3 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Claude Sonnet 5.5 wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

On price, MiniMax M3.1 Flash is roughly 15.2x 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 58.3 and ranks #2 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 3 exact shared results

Choose MiniMax M3.1 Flash

  • cost matters — it's about 15.2x cheaper per token
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Claude Sonnet 5.5
Anthropic
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
58.3
#2
48.5
#29
Reasoning
57.1
#3
45.8
#34
Coding
47.5
#2
37.8
#23
Agents
43.2
#3
35.6
#23
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
2 of 3
1 of 3
Input price
$2.00 / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
$10.00 / M
$0.60 / M
Context window
1,000,000
1,000,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Claude Sonnet 5.5
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Vision
41.4#2
28.8#42
Tool use
35.2#2
26.8#30
Multimodal
41.1#2
30.2#38
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

47 reported for Claude Sonnet 5.5 · 14 for MiniMax M3.1 Flash

3 shared

Claude Sonnet 5.5 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (Humanity's Last Exam (no tools, text-only), Terminal-Bench 4.0), while MiniMax M3.1 Flash is better at 1 benchmark (DeepSWE 1.1).

Claude Sonnet 5.5 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Mon Oct 19 2026 • llm-stats.com

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 5.5 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 13.3x more expensive than MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Claude Sonnet 5.5 ($10.00/1M tokens) is 16.7x more expensive than MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.60/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Claude Sonnet 5.5 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 5.5
Input tokens$2.00
Output tokens$10.00
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

Both models have the same input context window of 1,000,000 tokens. MiniMax M3.1 Flash can generate longer responses up to 524,288 tokens, while Claude Sonnet 5.5 is limited to 128,000 tokens.

Anthropic
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 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 5.5 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash support multimodal inputs.

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

Claude Sonnet 5.5

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 5.5

Proprietary

Closed source

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude Sonnet 5.5 was released on 2026-09-28, while MiniMax M3.1 Flash was released on 2026-10-19.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 1 month newer than Claude Sonnet 5.5.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Sep 28, 2026

3 weeks ago

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Oct 19, 2026

0 days ago

3w newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Claude Sonnet 5.5 has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-06-01, while MiniMax M3.1 Flash'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 M3.1 Flash's cutoff date.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Jun 2026

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

—

Provider Availability

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is available from Anthropic. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is available from MiniMax.

Claude Sonnet 5.5

anthropic logo
Anthropic
Input Price:Input: $2.00/1MOutput Price:Output: $10.00/1M

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 5.5 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Claude Sonnet 5.5
✓ Preferred
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash.

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 5.5 or MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 leads the LLM Stats Score 58.3 to 48.5. Claude Sonnet 5.5 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 5.5 compare to MiniMax M3.1 Flash in benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 scores BenchCAD (with Python tool): 96.3%, ArXivMath (with tools): 95.2%, Global-MMLU: 92.1%, MILU: 91.6%, SWE-bench Multilingual: 90.3%. 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 5.5 cheaper than MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 13.3x cheaper for input tokens. Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2.00/M input and $10.00/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 5.5 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 supports 1.0M 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 5.5 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (58.3 vs 48.5), input pricing ($2.00 vs $0.15/M). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Claude Sonnet 5.5 and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Claude Sonnet 5.5 is developed by Anthropic and MiniMax M3.1 Flash is developed by MiniMax.

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