DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning) vs MiniMax-M3.1-Flash
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek or MiniMax-M3.1-Flash 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-M3.1-Flash scores 10.4 points higher (28.9 vs 18.5) but costs 1.2× as much to run the benchmark ($358 vs $310; both mid-range class). Pick MiniMax-M3.1-Flash 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-M3.1-Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 18.5 | 28.9 | +56.2% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 56.2% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $310.24 | $358.06 | +15.4% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 15.4% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 4.11s | 21.49s | +422.9% MiniMax-M3.1-Flash is 422.9% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.15 / $0.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
MiniMax-M3.1-Flash vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning): 56.2% more intelligence, 15.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 422.9% 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-M3.1-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Terra (High) scores 42.30 for $267.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (Non-reasoning)MiniMax-M3.1-FlashToday'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-m3-1-flash · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-1017-non-reasoning/minimax-m3-1-flash?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill