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MiniMax M2.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5

MiniMax M2.5 leads Mistral Medium 3.5 on coding, 37.2 to 25.5 on the Vibe Coding Index, and MiniMax M2.5 costs 6.3x less per output token ($1.20 vs $7.50 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 55 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace MiniMax M2.5 Replace Mistral Medium 3.5
MiniMax M2.5MiniMax
Coding
37.2
Overall
37.3
Output $/M
$1.20
26
Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI
Coding
25.5
Overall
37.3
Output $/M
$7.50
29
vs boards won of 55 shared

MiniMax M2.5 or Mistral Medium 3.5: which to pick

Pick MiniMax M2.5 for coding: it scores 37.2 on the Vibe Coding Index against 25.5 for Mistral Medium 3.5.

Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for a larger context window (262K against 205K tokens) and work measured by ALE-Bench or LMArena Text: coding, where it leads.

Model AMiniMax M2.5MiniMax37.2/1003 independent benchmarks$0.62 per solved taskModel BMistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI25.5/1003 independent benchmarks$6.02 per solved task
Shared results
55
MiniMax M2.5 only
13
Mistral Medium 3.5 only
26
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
MiniMax M2.5 37.2 from 3 benchmarks, Mistral Medium 3.5 25.5 from 3 benchmarks.
Widest category
Reasoning, 15.4 points apart on average over 7 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
GPQA Diamond: MiniMax M2.5 82.1% against Mistral Medium 3.5 34.9%, 47.2 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
MiniMax M2.5 $1.20 against Mistral Medium 3.5 $7.50 per million output tokens, 6.3x apart.
Context window
MiniMax M2.5 takes 205K tokens, Mistral Medium 3.5 262K.

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
CategoryMiniMax M2.5BarsMistral Medium 3.5Ties
Coding63
Intelligence20
Agentic work10
Reasoning43
Math03
Knowledge44
Web design70
General216
All shared boards2629
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index63
Coding benchmarks for MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
SWE-bench Verified75.8%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
SWE-bench Multilingual68.3%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
LMArena WebDev13861264MiniMax M2.5
AA Coding IndexNot measured46.9Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)79.2%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)74.2%66.4%MiniMax M2.5
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)14.8%2.9%MiniMax M2.5
Code migration (Vals AI)Not measured5.1%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)Not measured39.0%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
SciCodeNot measured40.2%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)34.8%33.3%MiniMax M2.5
Terminal-Bench42.7%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
ALE-Bench618.2764.0Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: coding13801460Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: software and IT13831458Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena WebDev: React13741254MiniMax M2.5
LMArena WebDev: HTML14141308MiniMax M2.5
Neither model has a result on the other 22 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Intelligence benchmarks for MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
AA Intelligence Index22.814.2MiniMax M2.5
Epoch Capabilities Index146.6141.4MiniMax M2.5
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
Agentic work benchmarks for MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
AA Agentic IndexNot measured7.0Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)Not measured32.1%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)Not measured4.5%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)Not measured9.1%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)Not measured11.2%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
τ²-Bench Telecom95.3%94.2%MiniMax M2.5
Vending-Bench 2-$23Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index43
Reasoning benchmarks for MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
GPQA Diamond82.1%34.9%MiniMax M2.5
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)84.8%74.8%MiniMax M2.5
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)20.5%13.8%MiniMax M2.5
ARC-AGI63.7%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
ARC-AGI-24.9%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts13721436Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: expert13781432Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English13841445Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Vision: diagramsNot measured1254Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: homeworkNot measured1230Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Kagi LLM Benchmark55.2%41.4%MiniMax M2.5
Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
Math benchmarks for MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
AIME88.8%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
ProofBench4.0%9.0%Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: math13781431Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: mathematical work13781440Mistral Medium 3.5
Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index44
Knowledge benchmarks for MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
MMLU Pro80.1%75.3%MiniMax M2.5
LegalBench (Vals AI)80.0%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
CaseLaw (Vals AI)53.5%44.2%MiniMax M2.5
CorpFin (Vals AI)59.6%58.8%MiniMax M2.5
TaxEval (Vals AI)68.2%68.0%MiniMax M2.5
MortgageTax (Vals AI)Not measured28.9%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
MedQA (Vals AI)92.5%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)Not measured33.8%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: science13691428Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare13571409Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: legal and government13661437Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: business and finance13561426Mistral Medium 3.5
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 MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
Design Arena: websites12221142MiniMax M2.5
Design Arena: UI components11731076MiniMax M2.5
Design Arena: game dev11761079MiniMax M2.5
Design Arena: data viz11721120MiniMax M2.5
Design Arena: 3D11701060MiniMax M2.5
Design Arena: all code categories12071121MiniMax M2.5
Design Arena: SVG1150949MiniMax M2.5
Design Arena: ASCII artNot measured1062Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index216
General benchmarks for MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
SAGE (Vals AI)Not measured37.6%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)Not measured67.7%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
Vals Multimodal IndexNot measured34.8%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
IFBench71.6%68.8%MiniMax M2.5
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)73.3%69.3%MiniMax M2.5
DTBenchNot measured75.5%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMCANot measured26.1%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
CL-bench11.4%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
Surface Evolver BenchNot measured26.9%Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
CL-bench Life6.3%Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
LMArena Text13591421Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: instruction following13531415Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: creative writing13311374Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena VisionNot measured1222Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Text: English13801433Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: non-English13381404Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: Chinese13931444Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: German13611453Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: Japanese1171Not measuredOnly MiniMax M2.5 measured
LMArena Text: Korean12331384Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: French13631448Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: Spanish13531411Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: Russian13591395Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: Polish13341430Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: multi-turn13641423Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: longer queries13661415Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: writing and language13451384Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Text: entertainment and media13291382Mistral Medium 3.5
LMArena Vision: EnglishNot measured1240Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: ChineseNot measured1244Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: reading textNot measured1233Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: humorNot measured1216Only Mistral Medium 3.5 measured
LMArena Vision: creative writingNot measured1198Only Mistral Medium 3.5 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 MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
BenchmarkMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5Leader
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 M2.5$0.0009Fits in one request
Mistral Medium 3.5$0.0053Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.5 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

MiniMax M2.5$0.019Fits in one request
Mistral Medium 3.5$0.098Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.5 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

MiniMax M2.5$0.072Exceeds the context window
Mistral Medium 3.5$0.375Fits in one request

MiniMax M2.5 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 MiniMax M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3.5
SpecificationMiniMax M2.5Mistral Medium 3.5
MakerMiniMaxMistral AI
WeightsOpen weightsNo public weights listed
ReleasedFebruary 12, 2026April 30, 2026
Context window205K262K
Input $/Mtok$0.30$1.50
Output $/Mtok$1.20$7.50
Coding index37.225.5
Independent measurements behind it33
Cost per solved task$0.62$6.02
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is MiniMax M2.5 better than Mistral Medium 3.5 for coding?

Pick MiniMax M2.5 for coding: it scores 37.2 on the Vibe Coding Index against 25.5 for Mistral Medium 3.5. Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for a larger context window (262K against 205K tokens) and work measured by ALE-Bench or LMArena Text: coding, where it leads.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax M2.5 or Mistral Medium 3.5?

MiniMax M2.5 costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Mistral Medium 3.5 costs $1.50 and $7.50. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, MiniMax M2.5 costs $0.62 and Mistral Medium 3.5 $6.02.

Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M2.5 or Mistral Medium 3.5?

Mistral Medium 3.5, with 262K tokens against 205K.

How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M2.5 vs Mistral Medium 3.5 comparison based on?

55 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. MiniMax M2.5's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Mistral Medium 3.5's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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