DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) vs MiniMax-M3
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) by DeepSeek or MiniMax-M3 by MiniMax? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
MiniMax-M3 scores 4.8 points higher (29.2 vs 24.4) but costs 4.4× as much to run the benchmark ($538 vs $121; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick MiniMax-M3 when you need intelligence above 24.4, and DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) when 24.4 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) | MiniMax-M3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.4 | 29.2 | +19.7% MiniMax-M3 is 19.7% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $121.20 | $537.98 | +343.9% MiniMax-M3 is 4.4× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | Not reported | 26.74s | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.11 / $0.23 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image, Video |
MiniMax-M3 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High): 19.7% more intelligence, 343.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Flash scores 37.90 for $110.
- MiniMax-M3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (High)MiniMax-M3Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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