GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) vs MiniMax-M3
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) by OpenAI or MiniMax-M3 by MiniMax? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
MiniMax-M3 scores 8.2 points higher (29.2 vs 21.0) but costs 20× as much to run the benchmark ($538 vs $27.0; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick MiniMax-M3 when you need intelligence above 21.0, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) when 21.0 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) | MiniMax-M3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 21.0 | 29.2 | +39.0% MiniMax-M3 is 39.0% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $27.02 | $537.98 | +1891.0% MiniMax-M3 is 20× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 5.90s | 25.05s | +324.6% MiniMax-M3 is 324.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.20 / $1.20 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
MiniMax-M3 vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Low): 39.0% more intelligence, 1891.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 324.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- MiniMax-M3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
GPT-5.6 Luna (Low)MiniMax-M3Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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