Claude Opus 5 (Max) vs MiniMax-M3.1-Flash
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5 (Max) 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 Opus 5 (Max) scores 8.1 points higher (50.8 vs 42.7) but costs 26× as much to run the benchmark ($7275 vs $283; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5 (Max) when you need intelligence above 42.7, and MiniMax-M3.1-Flash when 42.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5 (Max) | MiniMax-M3.1-Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 50.8 | 42.7 | −15.9% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 15.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,274.74 | $283.18 | −96.1% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 96.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 63.35s | 22.73s | −64.1% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 64.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $5.00 / $25.0 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs Claude Opus 5 (Max): 15.9% less intelligence, 96.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 64.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Claude Opus 5 (Max)MiniMax-M3.1-FlashToday's Pareto frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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