Compare / MiniMax vs xAI

AI labs compared · October 2026

MiniMax vs xAI: 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. 9 models in all; a lab is only as good as the model you would actually pick from it.

5 models on sale with our resultsMiniMax Best: MiniMax-M3 · newest: MiniMax-M3

4 models on sale with our resultsxAI Best: Grok 4.7 · newest: Grok 4.7

MiniMax wins 0xAI wins 5

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.

MiniMax or xAI? The short answer

xAI is ahead: its best models beat MiniMax's in all 5 kinds of work both are measured on.

Pick xAI for agents and tool use, professional work, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
xAI's Grok 4.7 is #14 on our overall leaderboard; no MiniMax model has enough of our results to be ranked there yet.
Prices start at $0.52 per million tokens for MiniMax (MiniMax-M3) and $1.56 for xAI (Grok 4.3).

Head to head

29.2MiniMax-M3

Best Intelligence Index

46.4Grok 4.7

$0.52MiniMax-M3

Flagship price, per million tokens

$3.00Grok 4.7

$0.52MiniMax-M3

Cheapest model, per million tokens

$1.56Grok 4.3

Models on sale with our results

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.

Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live

not measured 4 of 20Grok 4.7

Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is

not measured 9 of 19Grok 4.7

Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending

not measured 11 of 19Grok 4.7

Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls

74 of 164MiniMax-M3 10 of 164Grok 4.6

Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects

39 of 51MiniMax-M3 16 of 51Grok 4.6

Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge

38 of 198MiniMax-M3 13 of 198Grok 4.6

WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality

66 of 188MiniMax-M3 40 of 188Grok 4.5

Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers

95 of 152MiniMax-M3 43 of 152Grok 4.5

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.

MiniMaxxAI

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.

#14Grok 4.743

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	MiniMax	xAI
Agents and tool use
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better	2.0%MiniMax-M3 · 44 of 105	25.8%Grok 4.7 · 19 of 105
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better	65.2%MiniMax-M3 · 37 of 115	88.4%Grok 4.6 · 6 of 115
Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better	15.3%MiniMax-M3 · 55 of 113	50.7%Grok 4.6 · 1 of 113
Vending-Bench 2 · Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better	$2,158MiniMax-M3 · 39 of 56	$9,047Grok 4.6 · 6 of 56
Professional work
APEX-Agents · Tasks passed% of tasks, higher is better	37.7%MiniMax-M3 · 30 of 37	65.3%Grok 4.6 · 6 of 37
Reasoning and knowledge
Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better	29.2MiniMax-M3 · 50 of 198	46.4Grok 4.7 · 11 of 198
Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better	39.0%MiniMax-M3 · 41 of 197	44.1%Grok 4.6 · 21 of 197
Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better	92.9%MiniMax-M3 · 14 of 187	94.9%Grok 4.6 · 3 of 187
Sticking to the facts
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better	1,434MiniMax-M3 · 69 of 113	1,465Grok 4.5 · 28 of 113
Writing
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better	1,440MiniMax-M3 · 63 of 166	1,466Grok 4.5 · 33 of 166
UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better	41.7MiniMax-M2.5 · 80 of 138	63.3Grok 4.6 · 29 of 138

Quick answers

Is MiniMax or xAI better?

xAI is ahead: its best models beat MiniMax's in all 5 kinds of work both are measured on.

What is MiniMax's best model?

MiniMax-M3: 29.2 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

What is xAI's best model?

Grok 4.7: #14 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 46.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

Which is better for agents and tool use, MiniMax or xAI?

xAI: its best model there, Grok 4.6, ranks 10 of 164 models on sale, against 74 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, MiniMax or xAI?

xAI: its best model there, Grok 4.6, ranks 13 of 198 models on sale, against 38 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.

Which is better for writing, MiniMax or xAI?

xAI: its best model there, Grok 4.5, ranks 40 of 188 models on sale, against 66 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax or xAI?

MiniMax's cheapest model with results, MiniMax-M3, costs $0.52 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $1.56 for Grok 4.3 from xAI.

Other labs compared

Which model is best for your product?

Benchmarks aren't your data. We test the models from MiniMax, xAI and the rest on your own tasks, with the cost of every answer.

Talk to us See the leaderboard