MiniMax M2 alternatives
Match · Updated July 2026
The closest alternative to MiniMax M2 is Claude Opus 4.1 — comparable intelligence (28.2 vs 28.3); for a cheaper option, GPT-5.6 Luna runs $0.100/M vs $0.255/M; and the best open-weight substitute is Kimi K3.
Closest match
Cheaper alternatives
gpt-5.6-luna
$0.100/M input · 51.2 intel
minimax-m3:batch
$0.150/M input · 44.4 intel
hy3
$0.132/M input · 41.2 intel
nex-n2-pro
$0.250/M input · 41.0 intel
deepseek-v4-flash
$0.140/M input · 40.3 intel
gpt-5.4-nano
$0.200/M input · 38.2 intel
Smarter alternatives
qwen3.5-35b-a3b
29.3 intel · $0.140/M
claude-sonnet-4.5
29.3 intel · $3.00/M
claude-sonnet-4.5:batch
29.3 intel · $1.50/M
mistral-medium-3-5
29.9 intel · $1.50/M
step-3.7-flash
30.3 intel · $0.200/M
o3
30.4 intel · $2.00/M
Open-source alternatives
kimi-k3
57.1 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
glm-5.2
51.1 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
minimax-m3
44.4 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
minimax-m3:batch
44.4 intel · open weights · 524K ctx
deepseek-v4-pro
44.3 intel · open weights · 1.0M ctx
kimi-k2.6
44.2 intel · open weights · 262K ctx
Frequently asked
What is the best alternative to MiniMax M2?
Claude Opus 4.1 is the closest alternative to MiniMax M2, with an Intelligence Index of 28.2 (MiniMax M2 scores 28.3) at $15.00 per million input tokens.
Is there a cheaper alternative to MiniMax M2?
Yes — GPT-5.6 Luna costs $0.100 per million input tokens versus $0.255 for MiniMax M2, while staying within ~8 points of its Intelligence Index.
Is there an open-source alternative to MiniMax M2?
Kimi K3 is the strongest open-weight alternative to MiniMax M2 — downloadable from Hugging Face and self-hostable, scoring 57.1 on intelligence.