MiniMax-M3 vs Solar Mini 4
Which is better for the money: MiniMax-M3 by MiniMax or Solar Mini 4 by Upstage? 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
MiniMax-M3 scores 5.1 points higher (29.2 vs 24.1) but costs 1.1× as much to run the benchmark ($538 vs $502; both premium class). Pick MiniMax-M3 when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Solar Mini 4.
| Metric | MiniMax-M3 | Solar Mini 4 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 29.2 | 24.1 | −17.5% Solar Mini 4 is 17.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $537.98 | $502.02 | −6.7% Solar Mini 4 is 6.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 25.47s | 27.46s | +7.8% Solar Mini 4 is 7.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.10 / $0.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video | Text |
Solar Mini 4 vs MiniMax-M3: 17.5% less intelligence, 6.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 7.8% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- MiniMax-M3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
- Solar Mini 4 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
MiniMax-M3Solar Mini 4Today'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/minimax-m3/solar-mini4 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/minimax-m3/solar-mini4?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill