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MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 22.1. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is 2.4x cheaper per token.

MiniMax · NVIDIA · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the overall LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 22.1, ranking #29 overall.

On price, Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is roughly 2.4x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

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

Choose MiniMax M3.1 Flash

  • overall performance matters — it scores 48.5 and ranks #29 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

Choose Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)

  • cost matters — it's about 2.4x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)
NVIDIA
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
48.5
#29
22.1
#200
Reasoning
45.8
#34
20.0
#212
Coding
37.8
#23
7.4
#205
Agents
35.6
#23
5.9
#163
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.15 / M
$0.08 / M
Output price
$0.60 / M
$0.20 / M
Context window
1,000,000
262,144

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)
Tool use
26.8#30
-0.7#202
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

14 reported for MiniMax M3.1 Flash · 13 for Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)

No common benchmarks found

MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)don'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

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) costs less

For input processing, MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.15/1M tokens) is 1.9x more expensive than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) ($0.08/1M tokens).

For output processing, MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.60/1M tokens) is 3.0x more expensive than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) ($0.20/1M tokens).

In conclusion, MiniMax M3.1 Flash is more expensive than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B).*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Tue Oct 20 2026 • llm-stats.com
MiniMax
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$0.60
Best providerMiniMax
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)
Input tokens$0.08
Output tokens$0.20
Best providerDeepinfra
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

MiniMax M3.1 Flash accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)'s 262,144 tokens. MiniMax M3.1 Flash can generate longer responses up to 524,288 tokens, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is limited to 262,144 tokens.

MiniMax
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output524,288 tokens
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Tue Oct 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

MiniMax M3.1 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) does not.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is licensed under a proprietary license, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) uses OpenMDW License v1.1.

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

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)

OpenMDW License v1.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

MiniMax M3.1 Flash was released on 2026-10-19, while Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) was released on 2026-08-11.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 2 months newer than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B).

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Oct 19, 2026

-2 days ago

2mo newer
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)

Aug 11, 2026

2 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

Provider Availability

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is available from MiniMax. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is available from DeepInfra.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

minimax logo
MiniMax
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.60/1M

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)

deepinfra logo
Deepinfra
Input Price:Input: $0.08/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.20/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash
✓ Preferred
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B).

Which is better, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 22.1. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is made by MiniMax and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) 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 M3.1 Flash compare to Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) in benchmarks?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash scores BabyVision: 91.0%, CharXiv-R: 82.5%, CyberGym: 82.2%, BankerToolBench: 76.2%, DeepSWE 1.1: 73.7%. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) scores PinchBench: 85.4%, MMLU-Pro: 81.9%, GPQA: 75.4%, IFBench: 71.9%, AA-LCR: 52.0%.

Is MiniMax M3.1 Flash cheaper than Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?

Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is 1.9x cheaper for input tokens. MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs $0.15/M input and $0.60/M output via minimax. Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) costs $0.08/M input and $0.20/M output via deepinfra.

What are the context window sizes for MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash supports 1.0M tokens and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (48.5 vs 22.1), context window (1.0M vs 262K), input pricing ($0.15 vs $0.08/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs OpenMDW License v1.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B)?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is developed by MiniMax and Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (30B A3B) is developed by NVIDIA.

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