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AI Choice Engine

Model comparison

Gemini 3.1 Pro vs MiniMax M3

Google against MiniMax, compared on context, price, and attributed benchmark results.

Recorded profile verification October 2, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: Medium — see receipts below

Google

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Frontier

vs

MiniMax

MiniMax M3

Frontier · Open weights

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationGemini 3.1 ProMiniMax M3
ProviderGoogleMiniMax
TierFrontierFrontier
Context windowWinner: 1.05M1M
Max output66KNot verifiedUnverified
Input / 1M tokens$2Winner: $0.30
Output / 1M tokens$12Winner: $1.20
WeightsClosedOpen
ParametersNot verifiedUnverified428B total / 23B active (MoE)
Reasoning levelslow, medium, highNot verifiedUnverified
Modalitiestext, image, video, audio, pdftext, image, video
LicenseNot verifiedUnverifiedMiniMax Community License
API model idgemini-3.1-pro-previewMiniMax-M3
ReleasedFebruary 19, 2026June 1, 2026
SWE-bench Verified · source date Gemini 3.1 Pro: 2026-0280.6Not verifiedUnverified
GPQA Diamond · source date Gemini 3.1 Pro: 2026-0294.3Not verifiedUnverified
Humanity's Last Exam · source date Gemini 3.1 Pro: 2026-0244.4Not verifiedUnverified
Terminal-Bench 2.1 · source date Gemini 3.1 Pro: 2026-07, MiniMax M3: 2026-06-01 (comparability not verified)73.866
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · source date MiniMax M3: 2026-10-01Not verifiedUnverified29

Dates beside benchmark scores refer to the linked source’s publication or capture date unless that source explicitly states when it measured the result. A shared URL alone does not establish comparable runs; unverified setups are marked. Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

Pricing tiers

Gemini 3.1 Pro: The current Gemini developer guide lists $2/$12 per MTok below 200K input and $4/$18 above 200K, including thinking output. It leaves the exact 200K boundary unspecified; confirm that boundary and other processing/cache tiers before budgeting. The exact API ID remains gemini-3.1-pro-preview. Restricted Gemini 4 Argon is a separate preview and does not make this endpoint stable.

MiniMax M3: MiniMax Standard $0.30/$1.20 per MTok through 512K input; above 512K $0.60/$2.40. Cache reads $0.06/$0.12. Priority is 1.5x the applicable Standard rate. The page labels these current rates permanent 50% off; future tariffs are not established. Subscription-key Credits/M Plan and PAYG balance are separate.

FrontierRecord checked October 1, 2026

Gemini 3.1 Pro

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is Google's multimodal Pro endpoint with a 1,048,576-token input limit and 65,536-token output limit.

Best for

  • Very long documents
  • Multimodal reasoning
  • Frontier knowledge work

Watch out

This API endpoint remains Preview. A separate customtools endpoint is optimized for bash/custom-tool workflows and can behave differently on other tasks. Keep endpoint, thinking level and benchmark version matched; restricted Gemini 4 Argon access is a separate lifecycle.

FrontierOpen weightsRecord checked October 2, 2026

MiniMax M3

MiniMax M3 is an open-weight (community license) 428B MoE with native multimodal and 1M context.

Best for

  • Open-weight deployments
  • Multimodal
  • Long-context

Watch out

Commercial checkpoint use requires Built with MiniMax M3 attribution and a one-time notice at or below $20M yearly revenue from the relevant products/services; above that threshold prior written authorization is required. Keep copyright/permission notices and follow prohibited-use terms. The checkpoint documents enabled/adaptive/disabled thinking. Hosted OpenAI compatibility defaults thinking on; Anthropic compatibility defaults it off and enables it with adaptive. Preview effort levels do not apply to M3. A hard output cap remains unverified.

When the cheaper one wins

MiniMax M3 is cheaper on output at $1.20 per million tokens against $12 for Gemini 3.1 Pro — about 10×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. This compares standard short-context token rates, not total cost per accepted task. Include input, cache, context tiers, schedules, retries and review in your pilot.

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Evidence confidence: Medium

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

  • Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
  • 2/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: max output, parameter count, reasoning levels.
  • No directly aligned benchmark setup — No benchmark has matching cited sources, source dates, units, effort and recorded run details on both models.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Older of the two catalog checks was 25 days ago.
  • Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? Gemini 3.1 Pro · MiniMax M3

Common questions

Gemini 3.1 Pro vs MiniMax M3

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is Gemini 3.1 Pro or MiniMax M3 cheaper for input?
MiniMax M3 is cheaper at $0.30 per million input tokens, against $2 for Gemini 3.1 Pro — roughly 6.7× the price. Estimate both input and output token volume for your workload. These are base rates; Gemini 3.1 Pro: The current Gemini developer guide lists $2/$12 per MTok below 200K input and $4/$18 above 200K, including thinking output. It leaves the exact 200K boundary unspecified; confirm that boundary and other processing/cache tiers before budgeting. The exact API ID remains gemini-3.1-pro-preview. Restricted Gemini 4 Argon is a separate preview and does not make this endpoint stable. MiniMax M3: MiniMax Standard $0.30/$1.20 per MTok through 512K input; above 512K $0.60/$2.40. Cache reads $0.06/$0.12. Priority is 1.5x the applicable Standard rate. The page labels these current rates permanent 50% off; future tariffs are not established. Subscription-key Credits/M Plan and PAYG balance are separate.
Is Gemini 3.1 Pro or MiniMax M3 cheaper for output?
MiniMax M3 is cheaper at $1.20 per million output tokens, against $12 for Gemini 3.1 Pro — roughly 10× the price. Estimate both input and output token volume for your workload. These are base rates; Gemini 3.1 Pro: The current Gemini developer guide lists $2/$12 per MTok below 200K input and $4/$18 above 200K, including thinking output. It leaves the exact 200K boundary unspecified; confirm that boundary and other processing/cache tiers before budgeting. The exact API ID remains gemini-3.1-pro-preview. Restricted Gemini 4 Argon is a separate preview and does not make this endpoint stable. MiniMax M3: MiniMax Standard $0.30/$1.20 per MTok through 512K input; above 512K $0.60/$2.40. Cache reads $0.06/$0.12. Priority is 1.5x the applicable Standard rate. The page labels these current rates permanent 50% off; future tariffs are not established. Subscription-key Credits/M Plan and PAYG balance are separate.
Which has the larger context window, Gemini 3.1 Pro or MiniMax M3?
Gemini 3.1 Pro accepts 1.05M tokens against 1M for MiniMax M3. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Should I use Gemini 3.1 Pro or MiniMax M3?
Both are classified in our frontier tier; this editorial grouping does not imply equal capability. Gemini 3.1 Pro is a candidate for very long documents; MiniMax M3 is a candidate for open-weight deployments. Compare accuracy, tool reliability, latency and cost on representative tasks.
Can I self-host Gemini 3.1 Pro or MiniMax M3?
MiniMax M3 publishes open weights, but self-hosting and third-party provider access depend on the licence, hardware, serving support, and availability. Gemini 3.1 Pro is a closed model whose supported access paths are controlled by its provider.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

  • Input price: MiniMax M3 costs $0.30 per 1M tokens versus $2 for Gemini 3.1 Pro — a 6.7x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: Gemini 3.1 Pro takes 1.05M against 1M for MiniMax M3 — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
  • Deployment: MiniMax M3 publishes weights you can self-host; the other is API-only.
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