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LFM2.5-VL-3B vs MiniMax M2.1

MiniMax M2.1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Liquid AI · MiniMax · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

LFM2.5-VL-3B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while MiniMax M2.1 is better at 1 benchmark (IFBench). MiniMax M2.1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose LFM2.5-VL-3B

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Choose MiniMax M2.1

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

LFM2.5-VL-3B
Liquid AI
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax
Benchmark wins
0 of 1
1 of 1
Input price
— / M
$0.30 / M
Output price
— / M
$1.20 / M
Context window
—
1,000,000
Released
Aug 2026
Dec 2025
License
LFM Open License v1.0
MIT

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

LFM2.5-VL-3B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while MiniMax M2.1 is better at 1 benchmark (IFBench).

MiniMax M2.1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Wed Aug 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

226.9B diff

MiniMax M2.1 has 226.9B more parameters than LFM2.5-VL-3B, making it 7263.6% larger.

Liquid AI
LFM2.5-VL-3B
3.1Bparameters
MiniMax
MiniMax M2.1
230.0Bparameters
3.1B
LFM2.5-VL-3B
230.0B
MiniMax M2.1

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only MiniMax M2.1 specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only MiniMax M2.1 specifies output context (1,000,000 tokens).

Liquid AI
LFM2.5-VL-3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
MiniMax
MiniMax M2.1
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output1,000,000 tokens
Wed Aug 26 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

LFM2.5-VL-3B supports multimodal inputs, whereas MiniMax M2.1 does not.

LFM2.5-VL-3B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

LFM2.5-VL-3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

MiniMax M2.1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

LFM2.5-VL-3B is licensed under LFM Open License v1.0, while MiniMax M2.1 uses MIT.

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

LFM2.5-VL-3B

LFM Open License v1.0

Open weights

MiniMax M2.1

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

LFM2.5-VL-3B was released on 2026-08-12, while MiniMax M2.1 was released on 2025-12-23.

LFM2.5-VL-3B is 8 months newer than MiniMax M2.1.

LFM2.5-VL-3B

Aug 12, 2026

1 weeks ago

7mo 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

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against LFM2.5-VL-3B and MiniMax M2.1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

LFM2.5-VL-3B
✓ Preferred
MiniMax M2.1
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about LFM2.5-VL-3B vs MiniMax M2.1.

Which is better, LFM2.5-VL-3B or MiniMax M2.1?

MiniMax M2.1 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. LFM2.5-VL-3B is made by Liquid AI and MiniMax M2.1 is made by MiniMax. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does LFM2.5-VL-3B compare to MiniMax M2.1 in benchmarks?

LFM2.5-VL-3B scores DocVQA: 91.1%, POPE: 88.7%, RefCOCO-avg: 87.9%, TextVQA: 84.3%, OCRBench: 84.2%. MiniMax M2.1 scores VIBE Web: 91.5%, VIBE Android: 89.7%, VIBE: 88.6%, MMLU-Pro: 88.0%, VIBE iOS: 88.0%.

What are the context window sizes for LFM2.5-VL-3B and MiniMax M2.1?

LFM2.5-VL-3B supports an unknown number of 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 LFM2.5-VL-3B and MiniMax M2.1?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (LFM Open License v1.0 vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes LFM2.5-VL-3B and MiniMax M2.1?

LFM2.5-VL-3B is developed by Liquid AI and MiniMax M2.1 is developed by MiniMax.

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