Gemini 3.5 Flash vs MiniMax M2.1

Gemini 3.5 Flash leads MiniMax M2.1 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 33.6 to 20.9, and MiniMax M2.1 costs 7.5x less per output token ($1.20 vs $9.00 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 24 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Gemini 3.5 Flash Replace MiniMax M2.1

Gemini 3.5 FlashGoogle

Coding: 39.8
Overall: 63.8
Output $/M: $9.00

MiniMax M2.1MiniMax

Coding: No data
Overall: No data
Output $/M: $1.20

vs boards won of 24 shared

Gemini 3.5 Flash or MiniMax M2.1: which to pick

Only Gemini 3.5 Flash has a coding score, 39.8 on the Vibe Coding Index; MiniMax M2.1 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.

Pick MiniMax M2.1 for output tokens 7.5x cheaper ($1.20 vs $9.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.59 against $1.21).

Model AGemini 3.5 FlashGoogle39.8/1004 independent benchmarks$1.21 per solved task Model BMiniMax M2.1MiniMaxNot benchmarked1 independent benchmark$0.59 per solved task

248810

Shared results: 24
Gemini 3.5 Flash only: 88
MiniMax M2.1 only: 10
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
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads, 33.6 against 20.9.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads, 92.7% against 78.5%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a AIME result, 77.9%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads, 89.5% against 87.0%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash leads, 1267 against 1201.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.5 Flash
Gemini 3.5 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2.1
Gemini 3.5 Flash $0.0060, MiniMax M2.1 $0.0009 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
MiniMax M2.1
Gemini 3.5 Flash $1.21, MiniMax M2.1 $0.59.
Published attempt cost and pass rate

At a glance

Coding index: Gemini 3.5 Flash 39.8 from 4 benchmarks, MiniMax M2.1 not benchmarked.
Widest category: Reasoning, 14.3 points apart on average over 3 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap: MedCode (Vals AI): Gemini 3.5 Flash 55.8% against MiniMax M2.1 34.1%, 21.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price: Gemini 3.5 Flash $9.00 against MiniMax M2.1 $1.20 per million output tokens, 7.5x apart.
Context window: Gemini 3.5 Flash 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.

Boards won, where both have a result
Category	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1
Coding	4	0
Intelligence	1	0
Agentic work	1	0
Reasoning	3	0
Knowledge	5	0
Web design	7	0
General	2	1
All shared boards	23	1

CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index40

Coding benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
LMArena WebDev	1499	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)	87.6%	81.8%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)	78.8%	74.8%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)	6.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)	48.7%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Code migration (Vals AI)	26.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
ProgramBench (Vals AI)	0.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)	74.2%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
SkillsBench (Vals AI)	52.7%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	81.0%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
SciCode	53.9%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)	46.2%	28.8%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Terminal-Bench	Not measured	36.6%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
WeirdML	62.6%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
ALE-Bench	911.0	623.8	Gemini 3.5 Flash
LMArena Text: coding	1493	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: software and IT	1494	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena WebDev: React	1495	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena WebDev: HTML	1522	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena WebDev: from an image	1504	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
SciCode	12.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here

IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10

Intelligence benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
AA Intelligence Index	33.6	20.9	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Epoch Capabilities Index	154.9	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured

Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10

Agentic work benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
Design Arena: agents building web apps	1202	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps	1197	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps	1174	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building Android apps	1185	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building Godot games	1098	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: agents building games	1180	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: HTML slides	1093	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides	1154	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)	57.9%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)	21.6%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)	30.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)	63.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)	5.7%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
τ²-Bench Telecom	95.6%	85.4%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
APEX-Agents	27.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Vending-Bench 2	$5,396	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 25 boards here

ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30

Reasoning benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
GPQA Diamond	92.7%	78.5%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)	88.3%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)	92.2%	83.0%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)	42.7%	23.2%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)	92.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
ARC-AGI	92.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
ARC-AGI-2	72.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
SimpleBench	76.7%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Chess puzzles	45.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Mystery game puzzles	32.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
EBR-bench	4.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts	1488	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: expert	1495	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English	1483	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: diagrams	1323	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: homework	1330	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here

MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11 boards, none shared

Math benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
AIME	Not measured	77.9%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
MATH 500 (Vals AI)	Not measured	89.0%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
MGSM (Vals AI)	Not measured	87.8%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
AA Math Index	Not measured	82.7	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	82.7%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
OTIS Mock AIME	95.6%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3	62.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
FrontierMath, tier 4	26.8%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
ProofBench	31.0%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: math	1504	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: mathematical work	1495	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here

KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index50

Knowledge benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
MMLU Pro	89.5%	87.0%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
LegalBench (Vals AI)	83.6%	75.5%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
CaseLaw (Vals AI)	Not measured	55.8%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)	64.7%	58.9%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
TaxEval (Vals AI)	74.4%	66.3%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
MortgageTax (Vals AI)	68.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
MedQA (Vals AI)	Not measured	91.2%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)	55.8%	34.1%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run)	Not measured	87.5%	Only MiniMax M2.1 measured
SimpleQA Verified	66.2%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: science	1495	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare	1483	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: legal and government	1488	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: business and finance	1467	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
FACTS Benchmark Suite	63.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here

Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index70

Web design benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
Design Arena: websites	1267	1201	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Design Arena: UI components	1269	1220	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Design Arena: game dev	1263	1134	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Design Arena: data viz	1236	1206	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Design Arena: 3D	1243	1164	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Design Arena: all code categories	1266	1190	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Design Arena: SVG	1253	1131	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Design Arena: ASCII art	1254	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here

GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index21

General benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1	Leader
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)	59.5%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
SAGE (Vals AI)	49.9%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)	76.6%	80.8%	MiniMax M2.1
Vals Multimodal Index	62.9%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
IFBench	76.3%	69.9%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)	74.3%	67.7%	Gemini 3.5 Flash
DTBench	94.7%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMCA	47.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Surface Evolver Bench	58.1%	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text	1482	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: instruction following	1467	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: creative writing	1470	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision	1308	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: English	1481	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: non-English	1475	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Chinese	1527	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: German	1494	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Japanese	1486	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Korean	1448	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: French	1490	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Spanish	1480	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Russian	1493	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: Polish	1516	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: multi-turn	1481	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: longer queries	1483	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: writing and language	1478	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Text: entertainment and media	1459	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: English	1305	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: Chinese	1377	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: reading text	1317	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: humor	1321	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing	1301	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
LMArena Document	1463	Not measured	Only Gemini 3.5 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here

Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared

Image generation benchmarks for Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Benchmark	Gemini 3.5 Flash	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 3.5 Flash$0.0060Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1$0.0009Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Gemini 3.5 Flash$0.102Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1$0.019Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Gemini 3.5 Flash$0.390Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.1$0.072Exceeds the context window

MiniMax M2.1 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.

Specifications of Gemini 3.5 Flash and MiniMax M2.1
Specification	Google Gemini 3.5 Flash	MiniMax M2.1
Maker	Google	MiniMax
Weights	No public weights listed	Open weights
Released	May 19, 2026	December 23, 2025
Context window	1.05M	205K
Input $/Mtok	$1.50	$0.30
Output $/Mtok	$9.00	$1.20
Coding index	39.8	Not benchmarked
Independent measurements behind it	4	1
Cost per solved task	$1.21	$0.59
Source	OpenRouter listing	OpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Gemini 3.5 Flash better than MiniMax M2.1 for coding?

Only Gemini 3.5 Flash has a coding score, 39.8 on the Vibe Coding Index; MiniMax M2.1 has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick MiniMax M2.1 for output tokens 7.5x cheaper ($1.20 vs $9.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.59 against $1.21).

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash or MiniMax M2.1?

Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.50 per million input tokens and $9.00 per million output tokens; MiniMax M2.1 costs $0.30 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 3.5 Flash costs $1.21 and MiniMax M2.1 $0.59.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash or MiniMax M2.1?

Gemini 3.5 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.

How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.5 Flash vs MiniMax M2.1 comparison based on?

24 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash's coding index rests on 4 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.

Gemini 3.5 Flash or MiniMax M2.1: which to pick

Which one for your work

Coding

Intelligence

Reasoning

Math

Knowledge

Web design

Long documents

Everyday cost

Cost per solved task

At a glance

Benchmark by benchmark

What each workload costs

Chat turn

Repository review

Agent loop

Specification differences

Questions

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