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Model A
Claude Sonnet 4.5

Anthropic

54.49/100

Estimated · Public rank #107

90% interval 43.0–66.0

Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs MiniMax M3

Updated August 30, 2026. Public scores include evidence status and uncertainty. They are not guarantees for a specific workload.

MiniMax logo
Model B
MiniMax M3

MiniMax

68.73/100

Supported · Public rank #21

90% interval 63.5–74.0

Decision reading

MiniMax M3 has the higher public score estimate, 68.73 versus 54.49, but the 90% score intervals overlap. Treat that as a lead, not a settled winner.

3 results are shared. Category rows based on different benchmark sets are marked directional and do not name a winner.

Which one for your work

Recommendations appear only when a shared evidence basis or an explicit operating constraint supports the call. Secondary and unsupported use cases stay disclosed below the initial list.

  • Long documents

    Prompts that approach the documented context limit

    MiniMax M3

    MiniMax M3 has the larger documented context window.

    Confidence: documented

  • Chat turn cost

    1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

    MiniMax M3

    MiniMax M3 has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Costs use the listed standard API rates.

    Confidence: listed-rates

Show secondary and unsupported calls
  • Repository review cost

    50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

    MiniMax M3

    MiniMax M3 has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Costs use the listed standard API rates.

    Confidence: listed-rates

  • Coding work

    Code generation, repair, and software-engineering tasks

    Not enough matched evidence

    The category averages use different weighted benchmark sets, so they are directional rather than like-for-like.

    Confidence: limited

  • Agentic work

    Tool use, computer use, and multi-step task completion

    Not enough matched evidence

    The category averages use different weighted benchmark sets, so they are directional rather than like-for-like.

    Confidence: limited

  • Cache-heavy agent loop cost

    200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    The page does not recommend a cost winner because at least one model cannot fit the stated workload in one request. Claude Sonnet 4.5 does not fit this workload in one request. Claude Sonnet 4.5 has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

    Confidence: rate-fallback

What is actually comparable

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results present for only one model describe coverage, not superiority.

Shared results
3
Claude Sonnet 4.5 only
8
MiniMax M3 only
19
Like-for-like categories
0 / 8

2 categories use different evidence sets. Those rows remain visible for coverage context but do not name a winner.

Category results, on a stated basis

Each row states whether both averages use the same weighted benchmark set. Directional and not-comparable rows remain visible, but they never receive a winner in this template.

Agentic

Directional only
Claude Sonnet 4.5
55.4
MiniMax M3
72.3
Weighted basis
2 vs 3 rows
Reading
Directional only

Coding

Directional only
Claude Sonnet 4.5
77.2
MiniMax M3
72.2
Weighted basis
1 vs 2 rows
Reading
Directional only

Reasoning

Not comparable
Claude Sonnet 4.5
13.6
MiniMax M3
Not measured
Weighted basis
1 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Knowledge

Not comparable
Claude Sonnet 4.5
83.4
MiniMax M3
Not measured
Weighted basis
1 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Math

Not comparable
Claude Sonnet 4.5
11.2
MiniMax M3
85.7
Weighted basis
2 vs 1 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multilingual

Not comparable
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Not measured
MiniMax M3
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multimodal

Not comparable
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Not measured
MiniMax M3
64.9
Weighted basis
0 vs 2 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Instruction following

Not comparable
Claude Sonnet 4.5
Not measured
MiniMax M3
Not measured
Weighted basis
0 vs 0 rows
Reading
Not comparable

Shape of the matched evidence

Only shared public evidence is shown. Sparse evidence stays a ruled list rather than being closed into a radar shape.

Too few matched category axes support a radar. The ruled list below shows only shared benchmark results; positions use each benchmark’s normalized display scale when available.

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes turn per-token rates into comparable decisions. Each scenario states context fit and whether cached input had to fall back to the published list-input rate.

Chat turn

1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

Claude Sonnet 4.5
$0.0105
Fits in one request
MiniMax M3
$0.0009
Fits in one request

MiniMax M3 has the lower modeled cost

Costs use the listed standard API rates.

Repository review

50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

Claude Sonnet 4.5
$0.195
Fits in one request
MiniMax M3
$0.0186
Fits in one request

MiniMax M3 has the lower modeled cost

Costs use the listed standard API rates.

Cache-heavy agent loop

200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

Claude Sonnet 4.5
$0.81
Does not fit in one request
Cached input priced at the published list-input rate
MiniMax M3
$0.03
Fits in one request

Claude Sonnet 4.5 does not fit this workload in one request. Claude Sonnet 4.5 has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

Specification differences

Sourced differences are shown directly. Missing facts stay explicit instead of being inferred from a model name or family.

Context window

Maximum documented context; output-token limits may be lower.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

200K

MiniMax M3

1M

API model ID

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Not sourced

MiniMax M3

Not sourced

Cached-input rate

A missing cached-input rate falls back to the listed input rate only in the stated workload estimate.

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Not published

MiniMax M3

$0.06 per 1M cached input tokens

Documented inputs

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Not sourced

MiniMax M3

Not sourced

Documented outputs

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Not sourced

MiniMax M3

Not sourced

Provider availability

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Not sourced

MiniMax M3

Not sourced

Reasoning profile

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Non-Reasoning

MiniMax M3

Non-Reasoning

Weight access

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Proprietary

MiniMax M3

Open Weight

License

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Proprietary

MiniMax M3

Open Weight

Release date

Claude Sonnet 4.5

2025-09-01

MiniMax M3

2026-06-01

If you already use one of these models
Deployment change
The models list different providers, so authentication, endpoint behavior, limits, and feature support may change.
Quality signal
MiniMax M3 has the higher public score estimate, 68.73 versus 54.49, but the 90% score intervals overlap.
Workload cost
Repository review: $0.195 vs $0.0186. Cache-heavy agent loop: $0.81 vs $0.03.
Context tradeoff
MiniMax M3 has the larger documented window (1M).

Run the same representative tasks against both endpoints before changing production traffic.

Benchmark evidence

The full public result ledger is available for audit without forcing a wide desktop table onto a phone.

Browse raw public benchmark evidence30 rows

Agentic

  • Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Claude Sonnet 4.550%
    Source
    MiniMax M366%
    Source

    MiniMax M3 leads this result

  • OSWorld-Verified

    Claude Sonnet 4.561.4%
    Source
    MiniMax M370.1%
    Source

    MiniMax M3 leads this result

  • VITA-Bench

    Claude Sonnet 4.517.0%
    Source
    MiniMax M3

    Not directly comparable

  • Gert Labs

    Claude Sonnet 4.548.51%
    Source
    MiniMax M3

    Not directly comparable

  • JobBench

    Claude Sonnet 4.527.7%
    Source
    MiniMax M3

    Not directly comparable

  • BrowseComp

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M383.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MCP Atlas

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M374.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Claw-Eval

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M374.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • BankerToolBench

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M376.1%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • ResearchClawBench

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M319.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • OSWorld 2.0

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M34.6%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Coding

  • SWE-bench Verified

    Claude Sonnet 4.577.2%
    Source
    MiniMax M380.5%
    Source

    MiniMax M3 leads this result

  • SWE-bench Pro

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M359%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M366.0%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • NL2Repo

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M342.1%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • VIBE V2

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M350.1%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • SVG-Bench

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M363.7%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • KernelBench Hard

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M328.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • OpenHarmony Bench

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M348.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Reasoning

  • ARC-AGI-2

    Claude Sonnet 4.513.6%
    Source
    MiniMax M3

    Not directly comparable

Knowledge

  • GPQA

    Claude Sonnet 4.583.4%
    Source
    MiniMax M3

    Not directly comparable

Math

  • AIME 2025

    Claude Sonnet 4.587%
    Source
    MiniMax M3

    Not directly comparable

  • FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)

    Claude Sonnet 4.513.495%
    Source
    MiniMax M3

    Not directly comparable

  • FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)

    Claude Sonnet 4.54.167%
    Source
    MiniMax M3

    Not directly comparable

  • USAMO 2026

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M385.7%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Multimodal

  • OfficeQA Pro

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M345.1%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • OmniDocBench 1.5

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M391.6%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MMMU-Pro

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M378.1%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • VideoMMMU

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M384.6%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Video-MME (with subtitle)

    Claude Sonnet 4.5
    MiniMax M385.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Frequently asked questions

Which is better, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or MiniMax M3?

MiniMax M3 has the higher public score estimate, 68.73 versus 54.49, but the 90% score intervals overlap. The higher estimate is not a decisive winner because the uncertainty ranges overlap.

Which is better for coding, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or MiniMax M3?

The current coding averages use different weighted benchmark sets, so BenchLM does not name a winner from them. Read the shared benchmark rows directly and test the models on the same task set.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or MiniMax M3?

The current agentic tasks averages use different weighted benchmark sets, so BenchLM does not name a winner from them. Read the shared benchmark rows directly and test the models on the same task set.

Which costs less, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or MiniMax M3?

For the stated presets, chat costs $0.0105 on Claude Sonnet 4.5 and $0.0009 on MiniMax M3; repository review costs $0.195 and $0.0186; the cache-heavy agent loop costs $0.81 and $0.03. Claude Sonnet 4.5 does not fit this workload in one request. Claude Sonnet 4.5 has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

Which has the larger context window, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or MiniMax M3?

MiniMax M3 has the larger documented context window: 1M, compared with 200K.

Related comparisons

Last updated August 30, 2026

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