Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) vs MiniMax-M3
Which is better for the money: Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) by Kimi or MiniMax-M3 by MiniMax? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick MiniMax-M3
MiniMax-M3 vs Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning): 8.1% more intelligence, 64.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 55.2% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) | MiniMax-M3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 27.0 | 29.2 | +8.1% MiniMax-M3 is 8.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,528.20 | $537.98 | −64.8% MiniMax-M3 is 64.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 56.90s | 25.47s | −55.2% MiniMax-M3 is 55.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.95 / $4.00 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video | Text, Image, Video |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- MiniMax-M3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Kimi K2.6 (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/kimi-k2-6/minimax-m3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k2-6/minimax-m3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill