MiniMax M1 vs Mistral Medium 3
MiniMax M1 leads Mistral Medium 3 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 11.7 to 9.0, at about the same output price ($2.20 vs $2.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 29 benchmarks have a result for both.
MiniMax M1 or Mistral Medium 3: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick MiniMax M1 for a larger context window (1M against 131K tokens) and work measured by LMArena Text: coding or LMArena Text: software and IT, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 29
- MiniMax M1 only
- 0
- Mistral Medium 3 only
- 28
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 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 M1
MiniMax M1 leads, 11.7 against 9.0.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Mistral Medium 3 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1079.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
MiniMax M1
MiniMax M1 takes 1M tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Mistral Medium 3
MiniMax M1 $0.0015, Mistral Medium 3 $0.0014 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- MiniMax M1 not benchmarked, Mistral Medium 3 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- General, 5.6 points apart on average over 17 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LMArena Text: Japanese: MiniMax M1 1217 against Mistral Medium 3 1316, 16.5 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- MiniMax M1 $2.20 against Mistral Medium 3 $2.00 per million output tokens, 1.1x apart.
- Context window
- MiniMax M1 takes 1M tokens, Mistral Medium 3 131K.
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 | MiniMax M1 | Bars | Mistral Medium 3 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Math | 2 | 0 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 1 | 16 | ||
| All shared boards | 4 | 25 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index02
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 40.0% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 3.8% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1359 | 1385 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1359 | 1385 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 11.7 | 9.0 | MiniMax M1 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 134.0 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 24.3% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 57.8% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 4.1% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1339 | 1364 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1317 | 1342 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1353 | 1374 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1155 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1165 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 30.3 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 30.3% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1361 | 1353 | MiniMax M1 |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1363 | 1354 | MiniMax M1 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 76.0% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1354 | 1381 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1355 | 1381 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1337 | 1384 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1319 | 1352 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1079 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1024 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1018 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1034 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1084 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1069 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index116
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | Not measured | 39.3% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 31.3% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 62.3% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1343 | 1370 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1312 | 1338 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1297 | 1343 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1157 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1363 | 1385 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1319 | 1353 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1360 | 1374 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: German | 1350 | 1377 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1217 | 1316 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1266 | 1304 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: French | 1370 | 1368 | MiniMax M1 |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1353 | 1364 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1329 | 1359 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1329 | 1371 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1335 | 1384 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1326 | 1360 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1311 | 1352 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1303 | 1335 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1172 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1161 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1154 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1145 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | Not measured | 1094 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | Not measured | 1141 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1146 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 | 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
Mistral Medium 3 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Mistral Medium 3 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Mistral Medium 3 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 | MiniMax M1 | Mistral Medium 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | Mistral AI |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | June 17, 2025 | May 7, 2025 |
| Context window | 1M | 131K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.40 | $0.40 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.20 | $2.00 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is MiniMax M1 better than Mistral Medium 3 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick MiniMax M1 for a larger context window (1M against 131K tokens) and work measured by LMArena Text: coding or LMArena Text: software and IT, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M1 or Mistral Medium 3?
MiniMax M1 costs $0.40 per million input tokens and $2.20 per million output tokens; Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 and $2.00. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M1 or Mistral Medium 3?
MiniMax M1, with 1M tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M1 vs Mistral Medium 3 comparison based on?
29 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. MiniMax M1's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Mistral Medium 3's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.