Compare / Claude Opus 5 vs MiniMax M2
Claude Opus 5 vs MiniMax M2
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 12 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
Claude Opus 5 or MiniMax M2? The short answer
- MiniMax M2 is cheaper: $0.52 against $10.00 per million tokens, 19 times less.
- Claude Opus 5 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 50.8 against 18.6.
- On our business benchmarks, Claude Opus 5 ranks higher for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
At a glance
| Claude Opus 5 | MiniMax M2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $5.00 in · $25.00 out | $0.30 in · $1.20 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $10.00 | $0.52 |
| Cheapest host, blended | $10.00 (Claude Platform on AWS) | $0.45 (Minimax, FP8) |
| Intelligence Index | 50.8 | 18.6 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 204,800 tokens |
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| Developer based in | the US | China |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among models available today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. The better rank is in green.
| Use case | Claude Opus 5 | MiniMax M2 |
|---|---|---|
| Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls | 6 of 161 | 149 of 161 |
| Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects | 7 of 51 | not measured |
| Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge | 6 of 195 | 107 of 195 |
| WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality | 8 of 187 | 167 of 187 |
| Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers | 15 of 153 | 150 of 153 |
Every shared result
| Benchmark | Metric | Claude Opus 5 | MiniMax M2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | OverallArena rating | 1,488 | 1,360 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Business, management and financeArena rating | 1,486 | 1,348 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Creative writingArena rating | 1,472 | 1,285 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Expert promptsArena rating | 1,543 | 1,350 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Instruction followingArena rating | 1,497 | 1,334 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | OverallArena rating | 1,491 | 1,343 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Writing, literature and languageArena rating | 1,482 | 1,298 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score | 50.8 | 18.6 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | GPQA Diamond% of questions | 93.7% | 77.7% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Humanity's Last Exam% of questions | 54.9% | 13.7% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions | 82.0% | 64.3% |
| Vending-Bench 2reported | Money after a yearUS dollars | $11,181.87 | $160.60 |
Bold green marks the better value on that metric. Where a source reports ranges that overlap, the difference may not be meaningful; see the benchmark page for ranges.
Quick answers
Is Claude Opus 5 better than MiniMax M2?
It depends on the task. Among models available today, on our benchmarks and licensed sources, Claude Opus 5 ranks higher for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5 or MiniMax M2?
MiniMax M2 costs $0.52 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $10.00 for Claude Opus 5.
Run Claude Opus 5 and MiniMax M2 on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.