Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 leads Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 20.9 to 10.4, and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs 3.0x less per output token ($0.40 vs $1.20 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 22 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax M2.1: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite for output tokens 3.0x cheaper ($0.40 vs $1.20 per million) and a larger context window (1.05M against 205K tokens).
- Shared results
- 22
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite only
- 8
- MiniMax M2.1 only
- 12
- 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
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 leads, 20.9 against 10.4.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 leads, 78.5% against 70.2%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 leads, 77.9% against 42.1%.
Same board, both measured
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 leads, 87.0% against 79.1%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1201.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite $0.0003, MiniMax M2.1 $0.0009 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has the number, $0.59.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite not benchmarked, MiniMax M2.1 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 66.4 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- τ²-Bench Telecom: Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite 19.0% against MiniMax M2.1 85.4%, 66.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite $0.40 against MiniMax M2.1 $1.20 per million output tokens, 3.0x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens, MiniMax M2.1 205K.
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 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | Bars | MiniMax M2.1 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 3 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Math | 1 | 3 | ||
| Knowledge | 2 | 5 | ||
| General | 0 | 3 | ||
| All shared boards | 3 | 19 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index03
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 71.4% | 81.8% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 74.8% | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 59.3% | 81.0% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.5% | 28.8% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Terminal-Bench | Not measured | 36.6% | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 623.8 | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 10.4 | 20.9 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 133.8 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 19.0% | 85.4% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) | 36.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 39 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 70.2% | 78.5% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 75.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 62.5% | 83.0% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 6.8% | 23.2% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 40.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 42.1% | 77.9% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| MATH 500 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 89.0% | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 89.5% | 87.8% | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite |
| AA Math Index | 53.3 | 82.7 | MiniMax M2.1 |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 53.3% | 82.7% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index25
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 79.1% | 87.0% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 82.0% | 75.5% | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 55.8% | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 57.6% | 58.9% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 66.2% | 66.3% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 57.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 88.9% | 91.2% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 34.2% | 34.1% | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 75.9% | 87.5% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1201 | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1220 | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1134 | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1206 | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1164 | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1190 | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 1131 | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 30.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 75.8% | 80.8% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| IFBench | 49.9% | 69.9% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 55.7% | 67.7% | MiniMax M2.1 |
| DTBench | 62.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMCA | 18.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 | 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
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite 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 | Google Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | MiniMax M2.1 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | July 22, 2025 | December 23, 2025 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 205K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.10 | $0.30 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.40 | $1.20 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.59 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite better than MiniMax M2.1 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite for output tokens 3.0x cheaper ($0.40 vs $1.20 per million) and a larger context window (1.05M against 205K tokens).
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax M2.1?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens; MiniMax M2.1 costs $0.30 and $1.20. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M2.1 only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite or MiniMax M2.1?
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite vs MiniMax M2.1 comparison based on?
22 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and MiniMax M2.1's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.