DeepSeek R1 (0528) vs MiniMax M3

Choose DeepSeek R1 (0528) if you want reasoning-heavy planning where cost matters. Choose MiniMax M3 if you want open-weight autonomous agents that lean on tool use.

In our editorial scoring, MiniMax M3 leads in 4 of five dimensions (output quality, agentic ability, speed and value for $), while DeepSeek R1 (0528) leads in 0. On price, DeepSeek R1 (0528) runs about $0.99 per 1M tokens (blended) and is open-weight; MiniMax M3 is about $0.57 and open-weight.

The model is half the story — the agent is the other half

The model picks the moves; the agent runs the loop, the tools, and the guardrails. Once you've chosen a model, see which agent gets the most out of it.