Claude Sonnet 5 vs MiniMax M3
Detailed comparison of API pricing, technical specifications, and benchmark scores. Updated 2026-07-01.
Cost at a Glance
Claude Sonnet 5 is 7.7× more expensive than MiniMax M3 — switching could save 87% on your monthly API bill.
At 5M input + 2M output tokens per month:
Choosing MiniMax M3 could save you $26.10/mo
Price Comparison (per 1M tokens)
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Input (per 1M tokens) | $2.00 | $0.30 |
| Output (per 1M tokens) | $10.00 | $1.20 |
| Cache Write (per 1M tokens) | $2.50 | — |
| Cache Read (per 1M tokens) | $0.20 | — |
| Batch Input (per 1M tokens) | $1.00 | — |
| Batch Output (per 1M tokens) | $5.00 | — |
Prices are per 1 million tokens. Actual costs depend on your monthly token volume. Use the calculator →
Specifications
| Spec | Claude Sonnet 5 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 1M | 1M |
| Max Output Tokens | 128K | 64K |
| Knowledge Cutoff | 2026-01 | 2026-04 |
| Modalities | Text, Image | Text |
| Prompt Caching | Yes | No |
| Batch API | Yes | No |
| Thinking / Reasoning | Yes | No |
Benchmark Scores
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 5 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 82.1 | 80.5 |
| MMLU-Pro | 86.5 | 82.5 |
| HumanEval | 94.8 | 92.0 |
Benchmark scores from official provider reports. Higher is better. Missing scores indicate the provider has not published that benchmark yet.
Use Cases
Claude Sonnet 5
MiniMax M3
About the Providers
Claude Sonnet 5 is developed by Anthropic. MiniMax M3 is developed by MiniMax. This is a cross-provider comparison between Anthropic and MiniMax models. For the most up-to-date pricing, always check the official API documentation from each provider.