Is DeepSeek R1 (0528) cheaper than MiniMax M3?

MiniMax M3 is cheaper: roughly $0.57 vs $0.99 per 1M tokens (blended). DeepSeek R1 (0528): $0.50 in · $2.15 out / 1M tokens. MiniMax M3: $0.30 in · $1.20 out / 1M tokens.

Can I switch between DeepSeek R1 (0528) and MiniMax M3 in the same agent?

Yes. Model-agnostic agents (Cline, Aider, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, Kilo Code, OpenCode) let you swap models per task. Many people route hard tasks to the stronger model and routine work to the cheaper one.

DeepSeek R1 (0528) vs MiniMax M3: Which Is Better? (2026)

Q: DeepSeek R1 (0528) vs MiniMax M3: which is better for agents?

MiniMax M3 scores higher on output quality (6.3/10 vs 4.0/10), while MiniMax M3 is the cheaper option. DeepSeek R1 (0528) is best for research and comparisons that need the original R1 reasoning model; MiniMax M3 is best for agents that need an open-weight model with a 1M context. Live community votes on this page show what people actually prefer.

Community vote

Pick a winner in each dimension. You can change your vote any time.

Output Quality

Correctness and depth of what it produces

Agentic Ability

Tool calls, instruction-following, and multi-step tasks

Speed

Tokens per second and time-to-first-token

Value for Money

How much capability you get per dollar

Reliability

Consistent results: fewer refusals, loops and format breaks

Specs and pricing side by side

Spec

DeepSeek R1

MiniMax M3

Maker

DeepSeek

MiniMax

Blended price / 1M

$0.99

$0.57

Input / output

$0.50 in · $2.15 out / 1M tokens

$0.30 in · $1.20 out / 1M tokens

Context window

164K

1.0M

Open weights

Yes

Tool use

Yes

Reasoning

Yes

Output Quality

4.0

6.3

Agentic Ability

4.4

5.0

Speed

5.1

8.1

Value for Money

4.7

6.8

Reliability

8.4

Pricing and capabilities synced from the OpenRouter catalogue. Scores are editorial (0–10).

Verdict: DeepSeek R1 or MiniMax M3?

Updated 2026-10-17

Choose DeepSeek R1 (0528) if you want research and comparisons that need the original R1 reasoning model. Choose MiniMax M3 if you want agents that need an open-weight model with a 1M context.

In our editorial scoring, MiniMax M3 leads in 4 of five dimensions (output quality, agentic ability, speed and value for money), 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.

Where DeepSeek R1 falls short

Slow (about 28 output tokens/s, per Artificial Analysis)
164K context, smaller than 27.9% of the coding-agent requests we measured

Full DeepSeek R1 breakdown →

Where MiniMax M3 falls short

Weak on long agentic tasks (2.0% in Artificial Analysis's Terminal-Bench 4.0 run)
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash scores higher for about half the cost per request

Full MiniMax M3 breakdown →

Current Claude, GPT, Gemini and open models run on Standard Compute

Standard Compute

Current frontier models Claude Fable 5.1 · GPT-6 Astra