Compare · ModelsLive · 2 picked · head to head

MiniMax M3 vs Step 3.5 Flash

Side by side · benchmarks, pricing, and signals you can act on.

Winner summary

MiniMax M3 wins 3 of 4 shared benchmarks. Leads in speed · arena.

Category leads
speed·MiniMax M3arena·MiniMax M3
Hype vs Reality
MiniMax M3
#19 by perf·no signal
QUIET
Step 3.5 Flash
#9 by perf·#11 by attention
DESERVED
Best value
4.1x better value than MiniMax M3
MiniMax M3
93.3 pts/$
$0.75/M
Step 3.5 Flash
384.5 pts/$
$0.20/M
Vendor risk
One or more vendors flagged
minimax logo
MiniMax
$4.0B·Tier 1
Higher risk
stepfun logo
StepFun
$5.0B·Tier 1
Higher risk
Head to head
MiniMax M3Step 3.5 Flash
Artificial Analysis · Agentic Index
Step 3.5 Flash leads by +16.6
Artificial Analysis Agentic Index · a composite score measuring how well a model performs in agentic workflows · multi-step tool use, planning, error recovery, and autonomous task completion. Aggregates results from multiple agentic benchmarks including SWE-bench, tool-use tests, and planning evaluations. The canonical single-number metric for "how good is this model as an agent?"
MiniMax M3
35.4
Step 3.5 Flash
52.0
Artificial Analysis · Coding Index
MiniMax M3 leads by +26.9
Artificial Analysis Coding Index · a composite score that aggregates performance across multiple coding benchmarks into a single index. Tracks code generation quality, debugging ability, multi-language competence, and real-world software engineering tasks. Used by Artificial Analysis to rank model coding capability in a normalized, comparable format. Useful for developers choosing between models for coding-heavy workloads.
MiniMax M3
58.6
Step 3.5 Flash
31.6
Artificial Analysis · Quality Index
MiniMax M3 leads by +6.6
MiniMax M3
44.4
Step 3.5 Flash
37.8
Chatbot Arena Elo · Overall
MiniMax M3 leads by +53.0
MiniMax M3
1448.2
Step 3.5 Flash
1395.2
Full benchmark table
BenchmarkMiniMax M3Step 3.5 Flash
Artificial Analysis · Agentic Index
Artificial Analysis Agentic Index · a composite score measuring how well a model performs in agentic workflows · multi-step tool use, planning, error recovery, and autonomous task completion. Aggregates results from multiple agentic benchmarks including SWE-bench, tool-use tests, and planning evaluations. The canonical single-number metric for "how good is this model as an agent?"
35.452.0
Artificial Analysis · Coding Index
Artificial Analysis Coding Index · a composite score that aggregates performance across multiple coding benchmarks into a single index. Tracks code generation quality, debugging ability, multi-language competence, and real-world software engineering tasks. Used by Artificial Analysis to rank model coding capability in a normalized, comparable format. Useful for developers choosing between models for coding-heavy workloads.
58.631.6
Artificial Analysis · Quality Index
44.437.8
Chatbot Arena Elo · Overall
1448.21395.2
Pricing · per 1M tokens · projected $/mo at 10M tokens
ModelInputOutputContextProjected $/mo
minimax logoMiniMax M3$0.30$1.201.0M tokens (~524 books)$5.25
stepfun logoStep 3.5 Flash$0.10$0.30262K tokens (~131 books)$1.50