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MiniMax M2.1 vs Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

MiniMax M2.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) are closely matched at 31.3 and 29.6 on the LLM Stats Score.

MiniMax · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

MiniMax M2.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 31.3 and 29.6.

In the 5 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) wins 5; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose MiniMax M2.1

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.30/M input and $1.20/M output

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 5 of 5 exact shared results
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
NVIDIA
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
31.3
#133
29.6
#146
Reasoning
31.7
#127
28.9
#146
Coding
21.6
#102
14.4
#154
Agents
17.6
#93
11.9
#127
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
0 of 5
5 of 5
Input price
$0.30 / M
— / M
Output price
$1.20 / M
— / M
Context window
1,000,000
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

2 shared
Index
MiniMax M2.1
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Math
26.7#108
23.4#140
Tool use
13.0#117
5.4#169
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

25 reported for MiniMax M2.1 · 10 for Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

5 shared

MiniMax M2.1 outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is better at 5 benchmarks (AA-LCR, BrowseComp, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, SciCode).

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

156.0B diff

MiniMax M2.1 has 156.0B more parameters than Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB), making it 210.8% larger.

MiniMax
MiniMax M2.1
230.0Bparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
74.0Bparameters
230.0B
MiniMax M2.1
74.0B
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

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).

MiniMax
MiniMax M2.1
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output1,000,000 tokens
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Oct 23 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) supports multimodal inputs, whereas MiniMax M2.1 does not.

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

MiniMax M2.1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

MiniMax M2.1 is licensed under MIT, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) uses OpenMDW License v1.1.

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

MiniMax M2.1

MIT

Open weights

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

OpenMDW License v1.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

MiniMax M2.1 was released on 2025-12-23, while Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) was released on 2026-10-15.

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is 10 months newer than MiniMax M2.1.

MiniMax M2.1

Dec 23, 2025

10 months ago

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

Oct 15, 2026

1 weeks ago

9mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-05-01, while MiniMax M2.1's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)'s training data extends to 2026-05-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without MiniMax M2.1's cutoff date.

MiniMax M2.1

—

Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)

May 2026

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against MiniMax M2.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

MiniMax M2.1
✓ Preferred
Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about MiniMax M2.1 vs Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB).

Which is better, MiniMax M2.1 or Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

MiniMax M2.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 31.3 and 29.6. MiniMax M2.1 is made by MiniMax and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does MiniMax M2.1 compare to Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) in benchmarks?

MiniMax M2.1 scores VIBE Web: 91.5%, VIBE Android: 89.7%, VIBE: 88.6%, MMLU-Pro: 88.0%, VIBE iOS: 88.0%. Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) scores PinchBench: 87.8%, GPQA: 86.4%, BrowseComp: 66.8%, AA-LCR: 64.1%, MCP Atlas: 52.2%.

What are the context window sizes for MiniMax M2.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

MiniMax M2.1 supports 1.0M tokens and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between MiniMax M2.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (31.3 vs 29.6), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs OpenMDW License v1.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes MiniMax M2.1 and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB)?

MiniMax M2.1 is developed by MiniMax and Nemotron 3.5 Bolt (74B A9B 24GB) is developed by NVIDIA.

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