Compare / Meta vs MiniMax
Meta vs MiniMax: which AI lab is ahead?
Each lab's best model on sale goes head to head on every kind of work we measure, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. 14 models in all; a lab is only as good as the model you would actually pick from it.
Kinds of work led by each lab's best model there, of the 5 both are measured on.
Results as of 8 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-08-4199ce0620fe). Models on sale means listed on OpenRouter today.
Meta or MiniMax? The short answer
Meta is ahead: its best models beat MiniMax's in all 5 kinds of work both are measured on.
- Pick Meta for agents and tool use, professional work, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
- Meta's Muse Spark 1.3 is #6 on our overall leaderboard; no MiniMax model has enough of our results to be ranked there yet.
- Prices start at $0.058 per million tokens for Meta (Llama 3.1 8B Instruct) and $0.52 for MiniMax (MiniMax-M3).
Head to head
Each line names the model behind the number. Prices are blended, three input tokens to one output, at the developer's list price where we have read it; see every model's price. Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis; overall score from our leaderboard.
Which lab is better for what
For each kind of work, each lab's best model there and its rank among every model on sale. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.
Every model, by intelligence and price
Each dot is a model on sale with an Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis. Up is smarter; left is cheaper. Hover or tap a dot for its name.
MetaMiniMax
On our overall leaderboard
The 1 of their models we rank overall: one score out of 100 across everything we publish (how the score works). Only models with enough of our own results are ranked.
- #6Muse Spark 1.365
Benchmark by benchmark
The headline result of every benchmark both labs have models on: each lab's best model and its rank among the models on sale. Green marks the better rank.
| Measure | Meta | MiniMax |
|---|---|---|
| Agents and tool use | ||
| Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better | 33.3%Muse Spark 1.3 · 14 of 105 | 2.0%MiniMax-M3 · 44 of 105 |
| Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better | 85.4%Muse Spark 1.3 · 10 of 115 | 65.2%MiniMax-M3 · 37 of 115 |
| Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better | 50.5%Muse Spark 1.3 · 2 of 113 | 15.3%MiniMax-M3 · 55 of 113 |
| Vending-Bench 2 · Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better | $6,520Muse Spark 1.1 · 13 of 56 | $2,158MiniMax-M3 · 39 of 56 |
| Professional work | ||
| APEX-Agents · Tasks passed% of tasks, higher is better | 57.8%Muse Spark 1.3 · 12 of 37 | 37.7%MiniMax-M3 · 30 of 37 |
| Reasoning and knowledge | ||
| Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better | 48.1Muse Spark 1.3 · 8 of 198 | 29.2MiniMax-M3 · 50 of 198 |
| Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better | 48.7%Muse Spark 1.3 · 10 of 197 | 39.0%MiniMax-M3 · 41 of 197 |
| Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better | 94.1%Muse Spark 1.3 · 5 of 187 | 92.9%MiniMax-M3 · 14 of 187 |
| Sticking to the facts | ||
| Vectara Hallucination Leaderboard · Hallucination rate · Vectara% of summaries, lower is better | 7.7%Llama 4 Scout · 27 of 79 | 9.1%MiniMax-M2.5 · 34 of 79 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better | 1,483Muse Spark 1.2 · 9 of 113 | 1,434MiniMax-M3 · 69 of 113 |
| Writing | ||
| Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better | 1,494Muse Spark 1.3 · 7 of 166 | 1,440MiniMax-M3 · 63 of 166 |
| UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better | 26.7Llama 4 Scout · 120 of 138 | 41.7MiniMax-M2.5 · 80 of 138 |
Quick answers
Is Meta or MiniMax better?
Meta is ahead: its best models beat MiniMax's in all 5 kinds of work both are measured on.
What is Meta's best model?
Muse Spark 1.3: #6 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 48.1 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
What is MiniMax's best model?
MiniMax-M3: 29.2 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Meta or MiniMax?
Meta: its best model there, Muse Spark 1.3, ranks 9 of 164 models on sale, against 74 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Meta or MiniMax?
Meta: its best model there, Muse Spark 1.3, ranks 8 of 198 models on sale, against 38 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.
Which is better for writing, Meta or MiniMax?
Meta: its best model there, Muse Spark 1.3, ranks 5 of 188 models on sale, against 66 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.
Which is cheaper, Meta or MiniMax?
Meta's cheapest model with results, Llama 3.1 8B Instruct, costs $0.058 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $0.52 for MiniMax-M3 from MiniMax.
Other labs compared
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- Anthropic vs MetaBest model against best model
- Google vs MetaBest model against best model
- Meta vs xAIBest model against best model
- DeepSeek vs MetaBest model against best model
- Alibaba vs MetaBest model against best model
- Meta vs Mistral AIBest model against best model
- Meta vs Z.aiBest model against best model
Which model is best for your product?
Benchmarks aren't your data. We test the models from Meta, MiniMax and the rest on your own tasks, with the cost of every answer.