Model Comparison
MAI-Thinking-1 vs MiniMax M3Which is better in 2026?
MiniMax M3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Verdict: MAI-Thinking-1 vs MiniMax M3 — which is better?
MAI-Thinking-1 (by Microsoft) and MiniMax M3 (by MiniMax) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
MAI-Thinking-1 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while MiniMax M3 is better at 2 benchmarks (SWE-Bench Pro, SWE-Bench Verified). MiniMax M3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Choose MAI-Thinking-1 if…
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2026
Choose MiniMax M3 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
MAI-Thinking-1 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while MiniMax M3 is better at 2 benchmarks (SWE-Bench Pro, SWE-Bench Verified).
MiniMax M3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only MiniMax M3 specifies input context (512,000 tokens). Only MiniMax M3 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
MiniMax M3 supports multimodal inputs, whereas MAI-Thinking-1 does not.
MiniMax M3 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
MAI-Thinking-1
MiniMax M3
License
Usage and distribution terms
MAI-Thinking-1 is licensed under a proprietary license, while MiniMax M3 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
MAI-Thinking-1 was released on 2026-06-02, while MiniMax M3 was released on 2026-06-01.
MAI-Thinking-1 is 0 month newer than MiniMax M3.
Jun 2, 2026
1 months ago
1d newerJun 1, 2026
1 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
MAI-Thinking-1
View detailsMicrosoft
No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.
MiniMax M3
View detailsMiniMax
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against MAI-Thinking-1 and MiniMax M3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
| Feature | | |
|---|
FAQ
Common questions about MAI-Thinking-1 vs MiniMax M3.