Model comparison
MiniMax M3 vs o3
Head-to-head evidence from 14 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Verified leaderboard positions: MiniMax M3 #18; o3 unranked
BenchAlign evidence: MiniMax M3 supported; o3 supported. Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. MiniMax M3 and o3 share 14 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 31 results are unique to MiniMax M3; 3 to o3.
Updated July 16, 2026- Shared results
- 14
- MiniMax M3 only
- 31
- o3 only
- 3
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick MiniMax M3 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. o3 only becomes the better choice if you want the stronger reasoning-first profile.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 14 shared benchmark results across 6 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
MiniMax M3 is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 70 to 53. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
MiniMax M3's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 85.7 against 14.5.
o3 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.30 input / $1.20 output per 1M tokens for MiniMax M3. That is roughly 6.7x on output cost alone. o3 is the reasoning model in the pair, while MiniMax M3 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. MiniMax M3 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 200K for o3.
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | MiniMax M3 | Δ | o3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math | MiniMax M385.7 | Margin← 71.2 | o314.5 |
| Agentic | MiniMax M372.3 | MarginNo overlap | o3Not measured |
| Coding | MiniMax M372.2 | MarginNo overlap | o3Not measured |
| Multimodal | MiniMax M364.9 | MarginNo overlap | o3Not measured |
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | MiniMax M3 | o3 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | MiniMax M3$0.3 input / $1.2 output | o3$2 input / $8 output | MiniMax M3 has the lower combined listed price. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | MiniMax M3Not available | o3118 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | MiniMax M3Not available | o35.38 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | MiniMax M31M | o3200K | MiniMax M3 lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic16 benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3 | o3 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 66% | — | Not comparable |
| BrowseCompSource | 83.5% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld-VerifiedSource | 70.1% | — | Not comparable |
| MCP AtlasSource | 74.2% | — | Not comparable |
| Claw-EvalSource | 74.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | 35.4% | — | Not comparable |
| τ²-bench resultsSource | 88.9% | 80.7% | MiniMax M3 leads |
| GDPval-AASource | 44.7% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 1395 | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval rubricsSource | 74.7% | — | Not comparable |
| BankerToolBenchSource | 76.1% | — | Not comparable |
| ResearchClawBenchSource | 19.8% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld 2.0Source | 4.6% | — | Not comparable |
| AA BriefcaseSource | 1110 | — | Not comparable |
| AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource | 32.1% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Harvey LABSource | 6.7% | — | Not comparable |
Coding11 benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3 | o3 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 80.5% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE-bench ProSource | 59% | — | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 66.0% | — | Not comparable |
| NL2RepoSource | 42.1% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Coding IndexSource | 58.6% | — | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench HardSource | 42.4% | 37.1% | MiniMax M3 leads |
| AA-SciCodeSource | 45.4% | 41.0% | MiniMax M3 leads |
| VIBE V2Source | 50.1% | — | Not comparable |
| SVG-BenchSource | 63.7% | — | Not comparable |
| KernelBench HardSource | 28.8% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Source | 65.2% | — | Not comparable |
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge7 benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3 | o3 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 44.4% | 30.4% | MiniMax M3 leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 92.9% | 82.7% | MiniMax M3 leads |
| AA-HLESource | 37.1% | 20.0% | MiniMax M3 leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | 1.4% | -15.3% | MiniMax M3 leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 15.0% | 38.4% | o3 leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 16.1% | 87.1% | MiniMax M3 leads |
| AA Openness IndexSource | 33.3% | — | Not comparable |
MathMiniMax M3 wins4 benchmarks
Multimodal7 benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3 | o3 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| OfficeQA ProSource | 45.1% | — | Not comparable |
| OmniDocBench 1.5Source | 91.6% | — | Not comparable |
| MMMU-ProSource | 78.1% | — | Not comparable |
| VideoMMMUSource | 84.6% | — | Not comparable |
| Video-MME (with subtitle)Source | 85.4% | — | Not comparable |
| Design Arena WebsiteSource | 1294 | 1071 | MiniMax M3 leads |
| AA-MMMU-ProSource | 78.6% | 70.1% | MiniMax M3 leads |
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax M3 | o3 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | 82.9% | 71.4% | MiniMax M3 leads |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, MiniMax M3 or o3?
MiniMax M3 is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 70 to 53.
Which is better for math, MiniMax M3 or o3?
MiniMax M3 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 85.7 versus 14.5. o3 stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
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