Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview vs MiniMax M2
Updated October 21, 2026. 36 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick MiniMax M2 for coding: it scores 45.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 8.1 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview.
Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview when a solved task costs $0.18 against $0.702, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 205K tokens.
- Shared results
- 36
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview only
- 41
- MiniMax M2 only
- 13
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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, four public coding benchmarks
MiniMax M2
MiniMax M2 scores 45.3 against 8.1.
1 and 2 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
MiniMax M2
MiniMax M2 leads, 18.6 against 15.6.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AA Agentic Index result, 1.6.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a GPQA Diamond result, 81.1%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a AIME result, 83.3%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview has a MMLU Pro result, 86.2%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
MiniMax M2
MiniMax M2 leads, 1144 against 1083.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview takes 1.05M tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $0.0010, MiniMax M2 $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $0.18, MiniMax M2 $0.702.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 8.1 from 1 benchmark, MiniMax M2 45.3 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- General, 14.2 points apart on average over 15 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LMArena Text: Polish: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview 1443 against MiniMax M2 1312, 21.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview $1.50 against MiniMax M2 $1.02 per million output tokens, 1.5x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview takes 1.05M tokens, MiniMax M2 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 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | Bars | MiniMax M2 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 3 | 0 | ||
| Math | 2 | 0 | ||
| Knowledge | 4 | 0 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 7 | ||
| General | 15 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 26 | 10 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index22
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | Not measured | 61.0% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1257 | 1297 | MiniMax M2 |
| AA Coding Index | 34.7 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 80.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 62.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 4.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 34.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 82.6% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 25.8% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Terminal-Bench | Not measured | 30.0% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 797.7 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1400 | 1371 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1413 | 1373 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1245 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1276 | 1306 | MiniMax M2 |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1336 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 20 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 15.6 | 18.6 | MiniMax M2 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 1.6 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 30.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 3.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 3.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 8.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 86.8% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | Not measured | $161 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 81.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 82.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 77.7% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 13.7% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1407 | 1357 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1398 | 1338 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1403 | 1376 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1242 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1271 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 83.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 78.3 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 78.3% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1428 | 1351 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1417 | 1368 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 86.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 83.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 55.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 59.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 47.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 82.0% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1425 | 1348 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1428 | 1367 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1418 | 1349 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1389 | 1336 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index07
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1083 | 1144 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1071 | 1136 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1029 | 1119 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1045 | 1140 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1048 | 1098 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1072 | 1135 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1052 | 1098 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1166 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index150
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 49.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 63.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 41.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 72.3% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 64.3% | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1416 | 1340 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1377 | 1329 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1401 | 1286 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Vision | 1240 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1414 | 1364 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1410 | 1313 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1460 | 1366 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: German | 1430 | 1357 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1413 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1392 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1424 | 1336 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1421 | 1326 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1420 | 1330 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1443 | 1312 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1417 | 1361 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1394 | 1331 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1408 | 1295 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1386 | 1298 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1232 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1278 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1246 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1266 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | 1259 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | 1308 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1248 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 | 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
MiniMax M2 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
MiniMax M2 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
MiniMax M2 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 3.1 Flash Lite Preview | MiniMax M2 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | March 3, 2026 | October 23, 2025 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 205K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.25 | $0.255 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.50 | $1.02 |
| Coding index | 8.1 | 45.3 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.18 | $0.702 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview better than MiniMax M2 for coding?
Pick MiniMax M2 for coding: it scores 45.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 8.1 for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview. Pick Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview when a solved task costs $0.18 against $0.702, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 205K tokens.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or MiniMax M2?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs $0.25 per million input tokens and $1.50 per million output tokens; MiniMax M2 costs $0.255 and $1.02. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview costs $0.18 and MiniMax M2 $0.702.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview or MiniMax M2?
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview vs MiniMax M2 comparison based on?
36 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Preview's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and MiniMax M2's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.