Model comparison

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs MiniMax-M3

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.8 to 43.8 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M3 costs 2.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.8 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 35 shared benchmarks.

Gemini 3.8 Flash Google

61.8

Rank #11 Confirmed

MiniMax-M3 MiniMax

43.8

Rank #85 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 35 benchmarks with published results for both. Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher in 10 categories and MiniMax-M3 in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in reasoning, where Gemini 3.8 Flash leads 76.9 to 30.1.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is Chess Puzzles: 61% for Gemini 3.8 Flash and 14% for MiniMax-M3.
  • MiniMax-M3 is cheaper at $0.30 / $1.20 per million input/output tokens, against $0.75 / $3.75 for Gemini 3.8 Flash.
  • Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 1M.
  • MiniMax-M3 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Gemini 3.8 Flash and MiniMax-M3 specifications
Gemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
ProviderGoogleMiniMax
Noometry Index61.843.8
Released2026-09-022026-06-01
WeightsProprietaryOpen
Context window1.05M1M
Max output66K512K
Input $ / M tokens$0.75$0.30
Output $ / M tokens$3.75$1.20
Results tracked5041

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Category by category

Coding Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 59.2 (#15), MiniMax-M3: 41.8 (#118)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
FrontierCode41.2%14.7%
LMArena WebDev15841482
SciCode56.6%47.1%
LMArena Coding15101469
ALE-Bench1,270640.02
DeepSWE73.8%—
CursorBench39.6%—
FrontierSWE19.6%—
WeirdML84.8%—

Agentic & Tool Use Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 41.8 (#21), MiniMax-M3: 22.6 (#130)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
APEX-Agents64.3%37.7%
Vending-Bench 25,0942,158
OSWorld 2.0—4.6%
Remote Labor Index5.8%—
GBAEval—0.9%
GDP.pdf23.4%—

Reasoning Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 76.9 (#5), MiniMax-M3: 30.1 (#87)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
NYT Connections (extended)97.4%65.1%
CritPt18.3%3.7%
Chess Puzzles61%14%
LMArena Hard Prompts15081447
Mystery Game Puzzles47%8%
DTBench95.7%78.9%
LMCA52.9%33.7%
Surface Evolver Bench76.9%55%
Epoch Capabilities Index156.71146.95
ARC-AGI-289.2%—
SimpleBench—45.8%
ARC-AGI-198.5%—
ForecastBench—61.4

Math Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 65.3 (#28), MiniMax-M3: 40.0 (#95)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202598.9%71.1%
ProofBench48%18%
LMArena Math15281429
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)68.4%—
FrontierMath Tier 422%—

Knowledge Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 74.8 (#2), MiniMax-M3: 58.4 (#35)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
GPQA Diamond95.4%90.9%
LMArena Expert15241461
Humanity's Last Exam44.5%—
SimpleQA Verified69.7%—

Multimodal Too close to call

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 40.7 (#45), MiniMax-M3: 40.2 (#51)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
LMArena Vision13141253
Blueprint-Bench 238.6%—
Furniture Assembly31.7%—
LMArena Document—1435

Multilingual Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 58.0 (#5), MiniMax-M3: 53.0 (#75)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
LMArena Non-English14911420
LMArena Chinese15541463
LMArena French14981447
LMArena German14931426
LMArena Japanese15021381
LMArena Korean14591372
LMArena Russian15151428
LMArena Spanish14851432

Instruction Following Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 78.0 (#13), MiniMax-M3: 75.5 (#62)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
LMArena Instruction Following14901433

Long Context Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 46.3 (#24), MiniMax-M3: 44.2 (#72)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
LMArena Longer Query15081445

Writing & Preference Gemini 3.8 Flash leads

Gemini 3.8 Flash: 72.2 (#15), MiniMax-M3: 62.1 (#83)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGemini 3.8 FlashMiniMax-M3
LMArena Text14991433
LMArena Creative Writing14921404
LMArena Multi-Turn15011442
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1748—
EQ-Bench 4—1150

Frequently asked questions

Is Gemini 3.8 Flash better than MiniMax-M3?

Gemini 3.8 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 61.8 to 43.8 on the Noometry Index. MiniMax-M3 costs 2.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Gemini 3.8 Flash's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash or MiniMax-M3?

MiniMax-M3 is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens; Gemini 3.8 Flash lists at $0.75 and $3.75.

Is Gemini 3.8 Flash or MiniMax-M3 better for coding?

Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.2 versus 41.8 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3.8 Flash does, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.

How many benchmarks do Gemini 3.8 Flash and MiniMax-M3 share?

35 benchmarks have published results for both models. Gemini 3.8 Flash has 50 scored results on Noometry and MiniMax-M3 has 41.

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