GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) vs MiniMax-M3
Which is better for the money: GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) by OpenAI or MiniMax-M3 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
GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) scores 17.8 points higher (47.0 vs 29.2) but costs 6.4× as much to run the benchmark ($3465 vs $538; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) when you need intelligence above 29.2, and MiniMax-M3 when 29.2 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) | MiniMax-M3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 47.0 | 29.2 | −37.9% MiniMax-M3 is 37.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,464.84 | $537.98 | −84.5% MiniMax-M3 is 84.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 106.87s | 25.25s | −76.4% MiniMax-M3 is 76.4% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
MiniMax-M3 vs GPT-5.6 Sol (Max): 37.9% less intelligence, 84.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 76.4% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5.6 Sol (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- 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 Sol (Max)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/gpt-5-6-sol/minimax-m3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-6-sol/minimax-m3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill