MiniMax M2 vs Step 5 Preview
Updated October 21, 2026. 29 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 71.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 45.3 for MiniMax M2.
Pick MiniMax M2 when output tokens cost 2.6x less.
- Shared results
- 29
- MiniMax M2 only
- 20
- Step 5 Preview only
- 32
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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, four public coding benchmarks
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview scores 71.4 against 45.3.
2 benchmarks behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview leads, 43.7 against 18.6.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only MiniMax M2 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1144.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Step 5 Preview
Step 5 Preview takes 1.05M tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2
MiniMax M2 $0.0008, Step 5 Preview $0.0024 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 45.3 from 2 benchmarks, Step 5 Preview 71.4 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 29.0 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LMArena WebDev: HTML: MiniMax M2 1306 against Step 5 Preview 1556, 41.6 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- MiniMax M2 $1.02 against Step 5 Preview $2.70 per million output tokens, 2.6x apart.
- Context window
- MiniMax M2 takes 205K tokens, Step 5 Preview 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 | Bars | Step 5 Preview | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 4 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 4 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| General | 0 | 14 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 29 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index04
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 61.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 85.6% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1297 | 1567 | Step 5 Preview |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 70.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 39.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 38.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 82.6% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 58.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 25.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 30.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1371 | 1485 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1373 | 1473 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1583 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1306 | 1556 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1550 | Only Step 5 Preview 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 | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 18.6 | 43.7 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index13 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 72.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 24.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 27.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.7% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 27.3% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 57.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| BioMysteryBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.4% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 2.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Vals Science Index | Not measured | 29.6% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 86.8% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $161 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 18.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 77.7% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.7% | 46.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1357 | 1461 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1338 | 1485 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1376 | 1454 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1308 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1265 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | 78.3 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 78.3% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1351 | 1458 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1368 | 1460 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 82.0% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1348 | 1454 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1367 | 1439 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1349 | 1437 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1336 | 1435 | Step 5 Preview |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1144 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1136 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1119 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1140 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1098 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1135 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1098 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 76.9% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index014
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 63.5% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.1% | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| IFBench | 72.3% | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 64.3% | 88.3% | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text | 1340 | 1440 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1329 | 1438 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1286 | 1409 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1265 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1364 | 1447 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1313 | 1428 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1366 | 1500 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: German | 1357 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1383 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1336 | 1438 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1326 | 1441 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1330 | 1433 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1312 | Not measured | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1361 | 1437 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1331 | 1449 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1295 | 1425 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1298 | 1412 | Step 5 Preview |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1290 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1282 | Only Step 5 Preview measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | MiniMax M2 | Step 5 Preview | 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 | StepFun Step 5 Preview |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | MiniMax | StepFun |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | October 23, 2025 | October 8, 2026 |
| Context window | 205K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.255 | $1.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.02 | $2.70 |
| Coding index | 45.3 | 71.4 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.702 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is MiniMax M2 better than Step 5 Preview for coding?
Pick Step 5 Preview for coding: it scores 71.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 45.3 for MiniMax M2. Pick MiniMax M2 when output tokens cost 2.6x less.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M2 or Step 5 Preview?
MiniMax M2 costs $0.255 per million input tokens and $1.02 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview costs $1.00 and $2.70. Cost per solved task is known for MiniMax M2 only.
Which has the bigger context window, MiniMax M2 or Step 5 Preview?
Step 5 Preview, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks is the MiniMax M2 vs Step 5 Preview comparison based on?
29 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. MiniMax M2's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Step 5 Preview's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.