Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 vs MiniMax: MiniMax M3
On input price, MiniMax: MiniMax M3 is ~16.7× cheaper. Verified 2026-10-21.
Verdict
On blended price (3:1 input:output), MiniMax: MiniMax M3 is ~19.0× cheaper ($0.300/$1.20 vs $5.00/$25.00 per 1M tokens). Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 scores higher on intelligence (63 vs 45, Artificial Analysis) — pay more only if that gap matters for your workload.
Pricing
Per-million-token list prices, verified 2026-10-21. Green marks the better value.
| Metric | Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M | $5.00 | $0.300 |
| Output / 1M | $25.00 | $1.20 |
| Cache read / 1M | $0.500 | $0.060 |
| Blended (3:1) | $10.00/1M | $0.525/1M |
| Estimated monthly cost | Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Chatbot10,000 reqs · 800/400 tok | $140.00 | $7.20 |
| Coding agent5,000 reqs · 8000/2000 tok | $450.00 | $24.00 |
| RAG pipeline30,000 reqs · 4000/500 tok | $975.00 | $54.00 |
Plug in your own numbers in the calculator, or paste a real bill into the Bill Shredder.
Specifications & capabilities
| Metric | Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1M | 1.0M |
| Max output | 128K | 512K |
| Vision input | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tool calling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Reasoning | ✓ | ✓ |
Quality
Intelligence Index by Artificial Analysis (independent evaluations, 0–100).
Sources: Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 on Artificial Analysis · MiniMax: MiniMax M3 on Artificial Analysis
Performance
Measured by Artificial Analysis on live endpoints.
| Metric | Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per task | $0.000025 | $0.000012 |
Provider
Infrastructure metrics for the organizations behind these models.
| Metric | Anthropic | MiniMax |
|---|---|---|
| Listed endpoints | 8 | 4 |
| Reliability | 99.8% | 99.2% |
| Avg latency | 520 ms | 520 ms |
| Pricing tiers | standard, batch | standard, batch |
Full details: Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 pricing · MiniMax: MiniMax M3 pricing