MiniMax M2.1 vs Beam 1.0 501B A23B
MiniMax M2.1 and Beam 1.0 501B A23B cost about the same per output token ($1.20 vs $1.20 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 2 benchmarks have a result for both.
MiniMax M2.1 or Beam 1.0 501B A23B: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick MiniMax M2.1 for work measured by Design Arena: websites or Design Arena: game dev, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 2
- MiniMax M2.1 only
- 32
- Beam 1.0 501B A23B only
- 26
- Like-for-like categories
- 1 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
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 20.9.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a GPQA Diamond result, 78.5%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a AIME result, 77.9%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has a MMLU Pro result, 87.0%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Beam 1.0 501B A23B leads, 1245 against 1201.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Beam 1.0 501B A23B
Beam 1.0 501B A23B takes 1.05M tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2.1
MiniMax M2.1 $0.0009, Beam 1.0 501B A23B $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only MiniMax M2.1 has the number, $0.59.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- MiniMax M2.1 not benchmarked, Beam 1.0 501B A23B not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Web design, 8.1 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: game dev: MiniMax M2.1 1134 against Beam 1.0 501B A23B 1220, 10.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Both cost $1.20 per million output tokens.
- Context window
- MiniMax M2.1 takes 205K tokens, Beam 1.0 501B A23B 1.05M.
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 M2.1 | Bars | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web design | 0 | 2 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 2 |
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index11 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1437 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 81.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 74.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 81.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 28.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 36.6% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| ALE-Bench | 623.8 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1473 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1461 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1443 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1436 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 32 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 20.9 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 85.4% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 41 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 78.5% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.2% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1442 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1447 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1451 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 77.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MATH 500 (Vals AI) | 89.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 87.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| AA Math Index | 82.7 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 82.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1459 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1475 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B 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 | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 87.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 75.5% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 55.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 58.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 66.3% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 91.2% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 34.1% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 87.5% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1430 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1376 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1433 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1430 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1201 | 1245 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1220 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1134 | 1220 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1206 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1164 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1190 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1131 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index15 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 80.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| IFBench | 69.9% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 67.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2.1 measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1425 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1430 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1390 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1436 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1413 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1424 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1461 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1412 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1414 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1429 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1400 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1399 | Only Beam 1.0 501B A23B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2.1 | Beam 1.0 501B A23B | 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 M2.1 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
MiniMax M2.1 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
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.
| Specification | MiniMax M2.1 | Reflection Beam 1.0 501B A23B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | Reflection |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | December 23, 2025 | October 16, 2026 |
| Context window | 205K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.40 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.20 | $1.20 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.59 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is MiniMax M2.1 better than Beam 1.0 501B A23B for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick MiniMax M2.1 for work measured by Design Arena: websites or Design Arena: game dev, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M2.1 or Beam 1.0 501B A23B?
MiniMax M2.1 costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Beam 1.0 501B A23B costs $0.40 and $1.20. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M2.1 only.
Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M2.1 or Beam 1.0 501B A23B?
Beam 1.0 501B A23B, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M2.1 vs Beam 1.0 501B A23B comparison based on?
2 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. MiniMax M2.1's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Beam 1.0 501B A23B's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.