Gemini 3.6 Flash vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash leads MiniMax M3.1 Flash on coding, 62.5 to 59.0 on the Vibe Coding Index, and MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs 6.3x less per output token ($0.60 vs $3.75 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 10 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemini 3.6 Flash or MiniMax M3.1 Flash: which to pick
Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding: it scores 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 59.0 for MiniMax M3.1 Flash.
Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash for output tokens 6.3x cheaper ($0.60 vs $3.75 per million) and work measured by LMArena WebDev or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 10
- Gemini 3.6 Flash only
- 100
- MiniMax M3.1 Flash only
- 10
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 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
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash scores 62.5 against 59.0.
4 benchmarks behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads, 42.7 against 34.0.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a AA Agentic Index result, 29.0.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a GPQA Diamond result, 93.4%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a MMLU Pro result, 89.3%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has a Design Arena: websites result, 1300.
Directional only
General
Vals Index
No call
Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash has a Vals Index result, 53.8%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.6 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 1M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Gemini 3.6 Flash $0.0026, MiniMax M3.1 Flash $0.0004 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Gemini 3.6 Flash has the number, $1.49.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.6 Flash 62.5 from 4 benchmarks, MiniMax M3.1 Flash 59.0 from 4 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 11.6 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 18.0% against MiniMax M3.1 Flash 32.1%, 14.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Gemini 3.6 Flash $3.75 against MiniMax M3.1 Flash $0.60 per million output tokens, 6.3x apart.
- Context window
- Gemini 3.6 Flash takes 1.05M tokens, MiniMax M3.1 Flash 1M.
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 3.6 Flash | Bars | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 1 | 3 | 1 tie | |
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 2 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 2 | 7 | 1 tie |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index13
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 83.9% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1538 | 1587 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| AA Coding Index | 69.2 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 88.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 79.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 25.3% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 64.0% | 73.9% | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 30.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | 35.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 73.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 45.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SciCode | 53.4% | 53.4% | Tie |
| FrontierCode | 34.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| WeirdML | 56.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ALE-Bench | 715.5 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1491 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1492 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1528 | 1609 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1547 | 1529 | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1545 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SciCode | 10.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 21 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 34.0 | 42.7 | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 154.5 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 29.0 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | 1197 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | 1181 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | 1196 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | 1203 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: agents building games | 1180 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | 1088 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | 1118 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | 1072 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 72.7% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 92.0% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 34.7% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 56.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 18.0% | 32.1% | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 25.0% | 34.1% | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 7.5% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 65.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | 58.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | 4.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| APEX-Agents | 46.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 22 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 93.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 82.9% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 88.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 92.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 40.8% | 48.0% | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 94.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI | 91.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 60.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | 42.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 30.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1486 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1490 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1484 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1314 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1314 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 94.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 58.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 22.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| ProofBench | 36.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1508 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1492 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| MathArena | 23.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 89.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 86.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 63.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 74.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 67.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 53.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | 66.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1489 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1469 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1479 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1464 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 65.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1300 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1295 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1263 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1289 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1271 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1289 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1281 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 74.0% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | Not measured | 53.8% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 71.4% | Only MiniMax M3.1 Flash measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | 56.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 48.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 79.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | 65.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 80.0% | 79.7% | Gemini 3.6 Flash |
| DTBench | 95.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMCA | 44.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Furniture assembly | 23.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text | 1480 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1467 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1466 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision | 1299 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1482 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1470 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1531 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1480 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1475 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1429 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1503 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1476 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1488 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1473 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1481 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1475 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1470 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1456 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1295 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1357 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1312 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1289 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1278 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| LMArena Document | 1456 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.6 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | 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 M3.1 Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
MiniMax M3.1 Flash 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 3.6 Flash | MiniMax M3.1 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | July 21, 2026 | October 19, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.75 | $0.15 |
| Output $/Mtok | $3.75 | $0.60 |
| Coding index | 62.5 | 59.0 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 4 | 4 |
| Cost per solved task | $1.49 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.6 Flash better than MiniMax M3.1 Flash for coding?
Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash for coding: it scores 62.5 on the Vibe Coding Index against 59.0 for MiniMax M3.1 Flash. Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash for output tokens 6.3x cheaper ($0.60 vs $3.75 per million) and work measured by LMArena WebDev or Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or MiniMax M3.1 Flash?
Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens; MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs $0.15 and $0.60. Cost per solved task is known for Gemini 3.6 Flash only.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.6 Flash or MiniMax M3.1 Flash?
Gemini 3.6 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.6 Flash vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash comparison based on?
10 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 M3.1 Flash's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.