DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning) vs MiniMax-M3
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek or MiniMax-M3 by MiniMax? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-31.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
MiniMax-M3 scores 0.2 points higher (18.7 vs 18.5) but costs 2.8× as much to run the benchmark ($878 vs $310; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick MiniMax-M3 when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning).
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning) | MiniMax-M3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 18.5 | 18.7 | +1.1% MiniMax-M3 is 1.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $310.24 | $878.03 | +183.0% MiniMax-M3 is 2.8× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 4.11s | 22.76s | +453.8% MiniMax-M3 is 453.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
MiniMax-M3 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning): 1.1% more intelligence, 183.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 453.8% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Terra (High) scores 42.30 for $267.
- MiniMax-M3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 52.30 for $718.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning)MiniMax-M3Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017-non-reasoning/minimax-m3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017-non-reasoning/minimax-m3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill