MiniMax M3 alternatives
Match · Updated July 2026
The closest alternative to MiniMax M3 is DeepSeek V4 Pro — comparable intelligence (44.3 vs 44.4); for a cheaper option, GPT-5.6 Luna runs $0.100/M vs $0.300/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
qwen3.7-max
46.0 intel · $1.48/M
gemini-3.1-pro-preview
46.5 intel · $2.00/M
gemini-3.1-pro-preview:batch
46.5 intel · $1.00/M
gemini-3.6-flash
50.1 intel · $1.50/M
gemini-3.6-flash:batch
50.1 intel · $0.750/M
gemini-3.5-flash
50.2 intel · $1.50/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: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
mimo-v2.5-pro
42.2 intel · open weights · 1.1M ctx
Frequently asked
What is the best alternative to MiniMax M3?
DeepSeek V4 Pro is the closest alternative to MiniMax M3, with an Intelligence Index of 44.3 (MiniMax M3 scores 44.4) at $0.435 per million input tokens.
Is there a cheaper alternative to MiniMax M3?
Yes — GPT-5.6 Luna costs $0.100 per million input tokens versus $0.300 for MiniMax M3, while staying within ~8 points of its Intelligence Index.
Is there an open-source alternative to MiniMax M3?
Kimi K3 is the strongest open-weight alternative to MiniMax M3 — downloadable from Hugging Face and self-hostable, scoring 57.1 on intelligence.