MiniMax M2 vs Mistral Medium 3
MiniMax M2 leads Mistral Medium 3 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 18.6 to 9.0, and MiniMax M2 costs 2.0x less per output token ($1.02 vs $2.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 43 benchmarks have a result for both.
MiniMax M2 or Mistral Medium 3: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick MiniMax M2 for output tokens 2.0x cheaper ($1.02 vs $2.00 per million) and a larger context window (205K against 131K tokens).
- Shared results
- 43
- MiniMax M2 only
- 7
- Mistral Medium 3 only
- 14
- 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.
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 M2
MiniMax M2 leads, 18.6 against 9.0.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
MiniMax M2
MiniMax M2 leads, 1143 against 1079.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
MiniMax M2
MiniMax M2 takes 205K tokens against 131K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2
MiniMax M2 $0.0008, Mistral Medium 3 $0.0014 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only MiniMax M2 has the number, $0.702.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- MiniMax M2 not benchmarked, Mistral Medium 3 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 62.6 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- τ²-Bench Telecom: MiniMax M2 86.8% against Mistral Medium 3 24.3%, 62.6 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- MiniMax M2 $1.02 against Mistral Medium 3 $2.00 per million output tokens, 2.0x apart.
- Context window
- MiniMax M2 takes 205K 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 M2 | Bars | Mistral Medium 3 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 3 | 2 | ||
| Math | 3 | 1 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 4 | ||
| Web design | 6 | 0 | ||
| General | 2 | 15 | ||
| All shared boards | 19 | 24 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index22
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 61.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1297 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 82.6% | 40.0% | MiniMax M2 |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 25.8% | 3.8% | MiniMax M2 |
| Terminal-Bench | 30.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1371 | 1385 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1373 | 1385 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1306 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 31 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 18.6 | 9.0 | MiniMax M2 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 134.0 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 86.8% | 24.3% | MiniMax M2 |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $161 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 39 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index32
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 77.7% | 57.8% | MiniMax M2 |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.7% | 4.1% | MiniMax M2 |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1357 | 1364 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1338 | 1342 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1376 | 1374 | MiniMax M2 |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1155 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1165 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | 57.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index31
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 78.3 | 30.3 | MiniMax M2 |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 78.3% | 30.3% | MiniMax M2 |
| LMArena Text: math | 1351 | 1353 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1368 | 1354 | MiniMax M2 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index14
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 82.0% | 76.0% | MiniMax M2 |
| LMArena Text: science | 1348 | 1381 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1367 | 1381 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1349 | 1384 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1336 | 1352 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1143 | 1079 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1136 | 1024 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1118 | 1018 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1140 | 1034 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1098 | 1084 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1135 | 1069 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1100 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index215
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Mistral Medium 3 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 72.3% | 39.3% | MiniMax M2 |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 64.3% | 31.3% | MiniMax M2 |
| DTBench | Not measured | 62.3% | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text | 1340 | 1370 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1329 | 1338 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1286 | 1343 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1157 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1364 | 1385 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1313 | 1353 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1366 | 1374 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: German | 1357 | 1377 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1316 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1304 | Only Mistral Medium 3 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1336 | 1368 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1326 | 1364 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1330 | 1359 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1312 | 1371 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1361 | 1384 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1331 | 1360 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1295 | 1352 | Mistral Medium 3 |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1298 | 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 M2 | 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
MiniMax M2 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
MiniMax M2 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
MiniMax M2 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 | Mistral Medium 3 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | Mistral AI |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | October 23, 2025 | May 7, 2025 |
| Context window | 205K | 131K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.255 | $0.40 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.02 | $2.00 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.702 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is MiniMax M2 better than Mistral Medium 3 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick MiniMax M2 for output tokens 2.0x cheaper ($1.02 vs $2.00 per million) and a larger context window (205K against 131K tokens).
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M2 or Mistral Medium 3?
MiniMax M2 costs $0.255 per million input tokens and $1.02 per million output tokens; Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 and $2.00. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M2 only.
Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M2 or Mistral Medium 3?
MiniMax M2, with 205K tokens against 131K.
How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M2 vs Mistral Medium 3 comparison based on?
43 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. MiniMax M2's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Mistral Medium 3's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.