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Gemini 3.6 Flash vs MiniMax M3

Gemini 3.6 Flash leads MiniMax M3 on coding, 62.5 to 39.2 on the Vibe Coding Index, and MiniMax M3 costs 3.1x less per output token ($1.20 vs $3.75 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 96 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Gemini 3.6 Flash Replace MiniMax M3
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle
Coding
62.5
Overall
68.3
Output $/M
$3.75
81
MiniMax M3MiniMax
Coding
39.2
Overall
51.7
Output $/M
$1.20
15
vs boards won of 96 shared

Gemini 3.6 Flash or MiniMax M3: which to pick

Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding: it scores 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 39.2 for MiniMax M3, though on 4 benchmarks against 6.

Pick MiniMax M3 for output tokens 3.1x cheaper ($1.20 vs $3.75 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.56 against $1.49).

Model AGemini 3.6 FlashGoogle62.5/1004 independent benchmarks$1.49 per solved taskModel BMiniMax M3MiniMax39.2/1006 independent benchmarks$0.56 per solved task
Shared results
96
Gemini 3.6 Flash only
13
MiniMax M3 only
20
Like-for-like categories
8 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.

At a glance

Coding index
Gemini 3.6 Flash 62.5 from 4 benchmarks, MiniMax M3 39.2 from 6 benchmarks.
Widest category
Math, 15.4 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
FrontierCode: Gemini 3.6 Flash 34.4% against MiniMax M3 14.7%, 30.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Gemini 3.6 Flash $3.75 against MiniMax M3 $1.20 per million output tokens, 3.1x 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.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryGemini 3.6 FlashBarsMiniMax M3Ties
Coding151
Intelligence20
Agentic work77
Reasoning111
Math40
Knowledge82
Web design70
General274
All shared boards8115
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index151
Coding benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
LiveBench codingNot measured70.9%Only MiniMax M3 measured
LMArena WebDev15381482Gemini 3.6 Flash
AA Coding Index69.258.6Gemini 3.6 Flash
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)88.1%82.2%Gemini 3.6 Flash
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)79.6%75.0%Gemini 3.6 Flash
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)Not measured1.0%Only MiniMax M3 measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)64.0%47.6%Gemini 3.6 Flash
Code migration (Vals AI)30.9%19.9%Gemini 3.6 Flash
ProgramBench (Vals AI)0.0%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
IOI (Vals AI)35.1%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)73.8%53.6%Gemini 3.6 Flash
SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI)Not measured33.3%Only MiniMax M3 measured
Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI)Not measured9.2%Only MiniMax M3 measured
SkillsBench (Vals AI)Not measured51.5%Only MiniMax M3 measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)45.4%65.0%MiniMax M3
SciCode53.4%47.1%Gemini 3.6 Flash
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured42.4%Only MiniMax M3 measured
FrontierCode34.4%14.7%Gemini 3.6 Flash
WeirdML56.1%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
ALE-Bench715.5640.0Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: coding14911470Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: software and IT14921466Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena WebDev: React15281478Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena WebDev: HTML15471455Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena WebDev: from an image15451470Gemini 3.6 Flash
SciCode10.8%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Intelligence benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
AA Intelligence Index34.029.2Gemini 3.6 Flash
Epoch Capabilities Index154.5146.9Gemini 3.6 Flash
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index77
Agentic work benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
AA Agentic Index29.029.5MiniMax M3
Design Arena: agents building web apps11971200MiniMax M3
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps11811197MiniMax M3
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps11981169Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: agents building Android apps12041159Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: agents building games11801158Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: HTML slides10991130MiniMax M3
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides11211181MiniMax M3
Design Arena: spreadsheets10711028Gemini 3.6 Flash
LiveBench researchNot measured68.0%Only MiniMax M3 measured
LiveBench browserNot measured8.0%Only MiniMax M3 measured
LiveBench long agenticNot measured12.4%Only MiniMax M3 measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)56.3%48.3%Gemini 3.6 Flash
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)18.0%20.6%MiniMax M3
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)25.0%29.8%MiniMax M3
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)65.4%47.8%Gemini 3.6 Flash
BioMysteryBench (Vals AI)58.5%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)4.3%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
τ²-Bench TelecomNot measured88.9%Only MiniMax M3 measured
APEX-Agents46.9%37.7%Gemini 3.6 Flash
OSWorld 2.0Not measured4.6%Only MiniMax M3 measured
Vending-Bench 2Not measured$2,158Only MiniMax M3 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index111
Reasoning benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
GPQA Diamond93.4%92.7%Gemini 3.6 Flash
LiveBench reasoningNot measured74.5%Only MiniMax M3 measured
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)88.4%81.2%Gemini 3.6 Flash
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)92.8%92.9%MiniMax M3
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)40.8%39.0%Gemini 3.6 Flash
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)94.1%90.9%Gemini 3.6 Flash
ARC-AGI91.2%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
ARC-AGI-260.4%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
SimpleBenchNot measured45.8%Only MiniMax M3 measured
Chess puzzles42.0%13.0%Gemini 3.6 Flash
Mystery game puzzles30.0%8.0%Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: hard prompts14861447Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: expert14901461Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14841455Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: diagrams13141266Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: homework13141268Gemini 3.6 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
Math benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
OTIS Mock AIME94.2%71.1%Gemini 3.6 Flash
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 358.9%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
FrontierMath, tier 422.0%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
ProofBench36.0%18.0%Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: math15081429Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: mathematical work14921448Gemini 3.6 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index82
Knowledge benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
MMLU Pro89.3%84.2%Gemini 3.6 Flash
LegalBench (Vals AI)86.7%85.4%Gemini 3.6 Flash
CorpFin (Vals AI)63.3%68.1%MiniMax M3
TaxEval (Vals AI)74.9%72.7%Gemini 3.6 Flash
MortgageTax (Vals AI)67.6%68.4%MiniMax M3
MedCode (Vals AI)53.1%46.3%Gemini 3.6 Flash
SimpleQA Verified66.2%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
LMArena Text: science14891452Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14691441Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: legal and government14791437Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: business and finance14641434Gemini 3.6 Flash
FACTS Benchmark Suite65.3%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index70
Web design benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
Design Arena: websites13001257Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: UI components12941242Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: game dev12631210Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: data viz12891236Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: 3D12711208Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: all code categories12891247Gemini 3.6 Flash
Design Arena: SVGNot measured1161Only MiniMax M3 measured
Design Arena: ASCII art12811161Gemini 3.6 Flash
LiveBench designNot measured66.2%Only MiniMax M3 measured
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index274
General benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
LiveBench data analysisNot measured76.2%Only MiniMax M3 measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)56.6%64.1%MiniMax M3
SAGE (Vals AI)48.7%50.6%MiniMax M3
MedScribe (Vals AI)79.7%87.3%MiniMax M3
Vals Multimodal Index65.1%60.0%Gemini 3.6 Flash
IFBenchNot measured82.9%Only MiniMax M3 measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)80.0%83.0%MiniMax M3
DTBench95.5%78.9%Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMCA44.9%33.7%Gemini 3.6 Flash
Surface Evolver BenchNot measured55.0%Only MiniMax M3 measured
Furniture assembly23.3%Not measuredOnly Gemini 3.6 Flash measured
LMArena Text14801433Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: instruction following14671433Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: creative writing14661404Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision12991251Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: English14821443Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: non-English14701420Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Chinese15311466Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: German14801428Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Japanese14751380Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Korean14291373Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: French15031444Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Spanish14761433Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Russian14881426Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: Polish14731423Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: multi-turn14811443Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: longer queries14751446Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: writing and language14701419Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14561403Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: English12951263Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: Chinese13571311Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: reading text13121259Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: humor12891235Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision: recognizing thingsNot measured1197Only MiniMax M3 measured
LMArena Vision: creative writing12781234Gemini 3.6 Flash
LMArena Document14561435Gemini 3.6 Flash
Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Gemini 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
BenchmarkGemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3Leader
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 3.6 Flash$0.0026Fits in one request
MiniMax M3$0.0009Fits in one request

MiniMax M3 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.049Fits in one request
MiniMax M3$0.019Fits in one request

MiniMax M3 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Gemini 3.6 Flash$0.188Fits in one request
MiniMax M3$0.072Fits in one request

MiniMax M3 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 3.6 Flash and MiniMax M3
SpecificationGoogle Gemini 3.6 FlashMiniMax M3
MakerGoogleMiniMax
WeightsNo public weights listedOpen weights
ReleasedJuly 21, 2026May 31, 2026
Context window1.05M1.05M
Input $/Mtok$0.75$0.30
Output $/Mtok$3.75$1.20
Coding index62.539.2
Independent measurements behind it46
Cost per solved task$1.49$0.56
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than MiniMax M3 for coding?

Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding: it scores 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 39.2 for MiniMax M3, though on 4 benchmarks against 6. Pick MiniMax M3 for output tokens 3.1x cheaper ($1.20 vs $3.75 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.56 against $1.49).

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or MiniMax M3?

Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens; MiniMax M3 costs $0.30 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $1.49 and MiniMax M3 $0.56.

Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.6 Flash or MiniMax M3?

Neither: both take 1.05M tokens.

How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.6 Flash vs MiniMax M3 comparison based on?

96 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemini 3.6 Flash'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.

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<iframe src="https://llmbenchmark.ai/embed/compare/gemini-3-6-flash-vs-minimax-minimax-m3" title="Gemini 3.6 Flash vs MiniMax M3, LLMBenchmark.ai" width="100%" height="360" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif;margin:6px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://llmbenchmark.ai/compare/gemini-3-6-flash-vs-minimax-minimax-m3">LLMBenchmark.ai, Gemini 3.6 Flash vs MiniMax M3</a></p>