Claude Sonnet 5 vs MiniMax M3
API pricing, context window and capabilities for Claude Sonnet 5 and MiniMax M3, side by side. Prices are the cheapest listed serving route per 1M tokens, from LiteLLM and OpenRouter.
Verdict
computed from the published numbersClaude Sonnet 5 wins on Terminal-Bench and on intelligence. MiniMax M3 wins on price.
Price
MiniMax M3
Terminal-Bench
Claude Sonnet 5
Intelligence
Claude Sonnet 5
Context window
Tied
Key takeaways
who wins on what, from the published numbersClaude Sonnet 5 wins
- Has web search
MiniMax M3 wins
- Cheaper input ($2.00 vs $0.23 /1M)
- Cheaper output ($10.00 vs $0.96 /1M)
- Higher max output (128K vs 1M)
- More serving providers (9 vs 11)
Cheaper overall
MiniMax M3
$0.23 + $0.96 /1M
Larger context
Tied
More providers
MiniMax M3
11 providers
Pricing & specs
cheapest listed route · per 1M tokensOn-demand listed rates, OpenRouter routed quotes and Vercel reseller quotes. Enterprise commitments can be materially lower.
| Claude Sonnet 5 | MiniMax M3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input $/1M | $2.00via Anthropic | $0.23via Wandb best |
| Output $/1M | $10.00via Anthropic | $0.96via Wandb best |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Max output | 128K | 1M best |
| Serving providers | 9 | 11 best |
| Date | Released Jun 30, 2026 | Released Jun 1, 2026 |
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores, side by side| Claude Sonnet 5 | MiniMax M3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | 38.2 best | 29.2 |
| Terminal-Bench | 81% best | 65% |
| GPQA Diamond | 91% | 93% best |
| Output speed | 85 t/s | 107 t/s best |
| Latency (TTFT) | 187.72s | 1.21s best |
Cost calculator
choose a serving route for each sideInput tokens / month
Output tokens / month
Claude Sonnet 5
via Azure
$20
MiniMax M3
via Wandb
$2.11
Capabilities
feature support, side by side| Feature | Claude Sonnet 5 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tool use | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reasoning | ✓ | ✓ |
| Audio | — | — |
| Prompt caching | ✓ | ✓ |
| Structured output | ✓ | ✓ |
| Web search | ✓ | — |
Related comparisons
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or MiniMax M3?
MiniMax M3 is cheaper for input ($2.00 vs $0.23 per 1M tokens) from Wandb. MiniMax M3 is cheaper for output ($10.00 vs $0.96 per 1M tokens) from Wandb.
What is the context window difference between Claude Sonnet 5 and MiniMax M3?
Both Claude Sonnet 5 and MiniMax M3 have about a 1M-token context window.
How do Claude Sonnet 5 and MiniMax M3 compare on benchmarks?
On the tracked benchmarks, Claude Sonnet 5 leads on Terminal-Bench, and Claude Sonnet 5 leads on intelligence.
Listed prices from LiteLLM, OpenRouter and Vercel · last checked Oct 14, 2026
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