MiniMax · language model
MiniMax M1: pricing, context and benchmarks
MiniMax M1 is a language model from MiniMax released on June 17, 2025. It costs $0.55 per million input tokens and $2.2 per million output tokens, with a 1M-token context window. No independent score has been published for it so far.
What you need to know about MiniMax M1
MiniMax M1 was released by MiniMax (China) on June 17, 2025. It accepts text as input and produces text. Its context window reaches 1,000,000 tokens, larger than 77 % of the models in the registry, and it can write up to 40,000 tokens in one go.
It has been available for about 16 months, long enough for its prices and scores to have settled.
MiniMax M1 pricing
On OpenRouter, MiniMax M1 costs $0.55 per million input tokens and $2.2 per million output tokens. Counting three tokens read for every token written, its average price is $0.963 per million, more expensive than 56 % of paid models (1.3 times the median of $0.76).
A concrete example: a task that sends 2,000 tokens (about 1,500 words) and receives a 500-token answer costs $0.0022. At 1,000 tasks a day, budget $66 a month. The price calculator redoes this with your own volumes.
Performance and benchmarks
Epoch AI does not yet publish a capabilities index for MiniMax M1. We therefore show no made-up performance rating: only price, context and features count towards its score.
Features, privacy and local use
- It supports tool calling, so it can drive an AI agent, call APIs or MCP servers.
- It is a reasoning model: it "thinks" before answering, which helps on hard tasks but uses more output tokens.
- Its knowledge stops at June 2024.
Its weights are not published: it can only be used through the MiniMax API or a broker such as OpenRouter, which means sending your data off your machines.
Other MiniMax models
| Model | Released | Avg. price | ECI |
|---|---|---|---|
| MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Oct 19, 2026 | $0.26 | — |
| MiniMax M3 | May 31, 2026 | $0.53 | 146.9 |
| MiniMax M2.7 | Mar 18, 2026 | $0.53 | 145.8 |
| MiniMax M2.5 | Feb 12, 2026 | $0.53 | 146.6 |
| MiniMax M2-her | Jan 23, 2026 | $0.53 | — |
| MiniMax M2.1 | Dec 23, 2025 | $0.53 | — |
| MiniMax M2 | Oct 23, 2025 | $0.45 | — |
| MiniMax-01 | Jan 15, 2025 | $0.43 | — |
Verdict
MiniMax M1 scores 55/100 on our grid, which only uses published figures.
Strengths
- Very large context (1M tokens): long documents or a whole codebase fit in one request.
Limitations
- No independent score published: performance cannot be verified.
- Text only: reads neither images nor files.
Avoid if…
- your data must not leave your servers;
- your tasks are mostly simple: a non-reasoning model will cost less.
Alternatives
- Nova 2 Lite$0.85
- Qwen3.8 27B$0.78
- Qwen3.6 Plus$0.73
- DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813$0.99
- GPT-4.1 Mini$0.7
- Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20$0.68
Comparisons and tools
Learn more
Frequently asked questions
How much does MiniMax M1 cost?
$0.55 per million input tokens and $2.2 per million output tokens on OpenRouter (checked October 25, 2026). A task with 2,000 tokens read and 500 written costs $0.0022.
How big is MiniMax M1's context window?
1,000,000 tokens, roughly 750,000 words, with a maximum of 40,000 output tokens.
Can MiniMax M1 run locally?
No, MiniMax does not publish its weights: it is API-only.
Is MiniMax M1 suitable for an AI agent?
Technically yes: it supports tool calling. Then check its cost for your volume.
What are the alternatives to MiniMax M1?
The closest models on price and performance are Nova 2 Lite, Qwen3.8 27B, and Qwen3.6 Plus.
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Neutrality. No affiliate links. No vendor pays to be reviewed, rated or ranked. Reviews are directed by François Chollet, neutral and factual, and every data point is dated and sourced. How we score