Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) vs MiniMax-M3.1-Flash
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) by Anthropic or MiniMax-M3.1-Flash by MiniMax? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) scores 6.9 points higher (49.6 vs 42.7) but costs 39× as much to run the benchmark ($11161 vs $283; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) when you need intelligence above 42.7, and MiniMax-M3.1-Flash when 42.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) | MiniMax-M3.1-Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 49.6 | 42.7 | −13.9% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 13.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $11,160.86 | $283.18 | −97.5% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 97.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 85.37s | 22.73s | −73.4% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 73.4% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback): 13.9% less intelligence, 97.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 73.4% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 57.60 for $8708.
- MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Claude Fable 5 (Max, Opus 4.8 Fallback)MiniMax-M3.1-FlashToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5/minimax-m3-1-flash · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-fable-5/minimax-m3-1-flash?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill