DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 vs MiniMax M3
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads MiniMax M3 on coding, 70.3 to 39.2 on the Vibe Coding Index, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs 2.0x less per output token ($0.60 vs $1.20 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 34 benchmarks have a result for both.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or MiniMax M3: which to pick
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 for coding: it scores 70.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 39.2 for MiniMax M3, though on 4 benchmarks against 6.
Pick MiniMax M3 for work measured by Long context reasoning (AA-LCR), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 34
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 only
- 5
- MiniMax M3 only
- 83
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 scores 70.3 against 39.2.
4 and 6 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads, 39.5 against 29.2.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only MiniMax M3 has a AA Agentic Index result, 29.5.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only MiniMax M3 has a GPQA Diamond result, 92.7%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only MiniMax M3 has a MMLU Pro result, 84.2%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads, 1310 against 1257.
Same board, both measured
General
Vals Index
No call
Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 has a Vals Index result, 61.3%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 1.05M tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 $0.0004, MiniMax M3 $0.0009 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only MiniMax M3 has the number, $0.56.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 70.3 from 4 benchmarks, MiniMax M3 39.2 from 6 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Math, 28.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- LiveBench browser: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 76.0% against MiniMax M3 8.0%, 68.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 $0.60 against MiniMax M3 $1.20 per million output tokens, 2.0x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 1.05M tokens.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Bars | MiniMax M3 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 9 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 8 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 5 | 0 | ||
| Math | 1 | 0 | ||
| Web design | 8 | 0 | ||
| General | 1 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 33 | 1 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index90
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 96.0% | 70.9% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1664 | 1482 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 58.6 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 82.2% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 75.0% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 31.8% | 1.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 87.7% | 47.6% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 44.2% | 19.9% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 53.6% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 33.3% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 9.2% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 51.5% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.0% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| SciCode | 55.9% | 47.1% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 42.4% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| FrontierCode | Not measured | 14.7% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 1622.0 | 640.0 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1470 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1466 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1667 | 1478 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1687 | 1455 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1470 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 21 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 39.5 | 29.2 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 146.9 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index80
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 29.5 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | Not measured | 1200 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | Not measured | 1197 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | Not measured | 1169 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1158 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building games | Not measured | 1159 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | Not measured | 1120 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1178 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | 1259 | 1042 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LiveBench research | 79.5% | 68.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LiveBench browser | 76.0% | 8.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LiveBench long agentic | 50.9% | 12.4% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 57.0% | 48.3% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 44.4% | 20.6% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 45.2% | 29.8% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 14.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 61.8% | 47.8% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 88.9% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 37.7% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| OSWorld 2.0 | Not measured | 4.6% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | Not measured | $2,158 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 21 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index50
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 92.7% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | 89.1% | 74.5% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 81.2% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 92.9% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 43.3% | 39.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 93.2% | 90.9% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| SimpleBench | Not measured | 45.8% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Chess puzzles | 46.0% | 13.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Mystery game puzzles | 49.0% | 8.0% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1447 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1461 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1455 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1266 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1268 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 99.4% | 71.1% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 71.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 46.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 18.0% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1429 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1448 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 84.2% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.4% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.1% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 72.7% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.4% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 46.3% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 42.5% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1452 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1441 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1437 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1434 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index80
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1310 | 1257 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1306 | 1243 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1352 | 1210 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1306 | 1236 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1363 | 1208 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1330 | 1246 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 1160 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1233 | 1161 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| LiveBench design | 83.4% | 66.2% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 61.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 measured |
| LiveBench data analysis | 79.5% | 76.2% | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.1% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.6% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 87.3% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 60.0% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 82.9% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 82.7% | 83.0% | MiniMax M3 |
| DTBench | Not measured | 78.9% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 33.7% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Surface Evolver Bench | Not measured | 55.0% | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1433 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1433 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1404 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1251 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1443 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1420 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1466 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1428 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1380 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1373 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1444 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1433 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1426 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1423 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1443 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1446 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1419 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1403 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1263 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1311 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1259 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1235 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | Not measured | 1197 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1234 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| LMArena Document | Not measured | 1435 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| EQ-Bench 4 | Not measured | 1150 | Only MiniMax M3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | MiniMax |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | October 17, 2026 | May 31, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.15 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.60 | $1.20 |
| Coding index | 70.3 | 39.2 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 4 | 6 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.56 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 better than MiniMax M3 for coding?
Pick DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 for coding: it scores 70.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 39.2 for MiniMax M3, though on 4 benchmarks against 6. Pick MiniMax M3 for work measured by Long context reasoning (AA-LCR), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or MiniMax M3?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens; MiniMax M3 costs $0.30 and $1.20. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M3 only.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 or MiniMax M3?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 vs MiniMax M3 comparison based on?
34 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017's coding index rests on 4 independent benchmarks and MiniMax M3's on 6. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.