Model Comparison 2026

DeepSeek V4 Flash vs MiniMax M3

DeepSeek V4 Flash
DeepSeek · Budget · Open weights
$0.12/1M · 1.0M ctx
MiniMax M3
MiniMax · Balanced · Open weights
$0.57/1M · 1.0M ctx

Community Vote

Pick a winner in each dimension — change your vote anytime.

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 $
How much capability you get per dollar
Reliability
Consistent results — fewer refusals, loops, and format breaks

Specs & Pricing, Side by Side

Spec
DeepSeek V4 Flash
MiniMax M3
Maker
DeepSeek
MiniMax
Blended price / 1M
$0.12
$0.57
Input / output
$0.09 in · $0.18 out / 1M tokens
$0.30 in · $1.20 out / 1M tokens
Context window
1.0M
1.0M
Open weights
Yes
Yes
Tool use
Yes
Yes
Reasoning
Yes
Yes
Output Quality
8.2
8.4
Agentic Ability
8.1
8.7
Speed
9.0
7.8
Value for $
10.0
9.1
Reliability
8.9
8.6

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

Verdict: DeepSeek V4 Flash or MiniMax M3?

Updated 2026-06-22

Choose DeepSeek V4 Flash if you want cheap, high-volume open-weight agent steps. Choose MiniMax M3 if you want open-weight autonomous agents that lean on tool use.

In our editorial scoring, DeepSeek V4 Flash leads in 3 of five dimensions (speed, value for $ and reliability), while MiniMax M3 leads in 2. On price, DeepSeek V4 Flash runs about $0.12 per 1M tokens (blended) and is open-weight; MiniMax M3 is about $0.57 and open-weight.

Where DeepSeek V4 Flash falls short
  • Not for the hardest tasks
  • Quality below V4 Pro
Full DeepSeek V4 Flash breakdown →
Where MiniMax M3 falls short
  • Below frontier on raw quality
  • Newer, less battle-tested than V3.2/GLM
Full MiniMax M3 breakdown →

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