---
title: "Is MiniMax M2 still undominated? · Undominated.ai"
canonical: https://undominated.ai/check/minimax__minimax-m2/
description: "MiniMax M2: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Oct 6, 2026. Unrated stays unrated."
---

# Is MiniMax M2 still undominated? · Undominated.ai

> MiniMax M2: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Oct 6, 2026. Unrated stays unrated.

# Is MiniMax M2 a good deal?

Whether anything in this catalogue beats MiniMax M2 on both quality and price, and what you give up if it does. A computation on the current catalogue, not an opinion.

12 undominated of 145 · Oct 6, 2026

 [1 · Choose & set workload](#check-input)[2 · Read verdict](#check-verdict)[3 · Inspect alternatives](#check-options)

As of Oct 6, 2026, MiniMax M2 is dominated for Balanced on LMArena. GLM 5.3 Flash scores 129.7 higher and costs 55% less, with a covering envelope. 12 of 145 rated, priced standard models are undominated.

[Inspect model evidence](/models/minimax__minimax-m2/) [Compare differences & requirements](/compare/?models=minimax%2Fminimax-m2%2Cz-ai%2Fglm-5.3-flash)

 Current model

MiniMax M2

 Balanced

3 tokens in per 1 out

 Balanced Summarise Chat Code gen Agentic
 Monthly spend (USD) Used only to say how many months a named switching cost would take to earn back. Leave blank to skip. Switching cost (USD)

GLM 5.3 Flash is both better and cheaper than MiniMax M2: 129.7 points higher on LMArena and 55% less per million tokens, $0.288 cheaper at this mix.

 [MiniMax M2](https://undominated.ai/models/minimax__minimax-m2/)

LMArena Elo · higher is better

Scale starts at 1040 Elo

 **

1339.9

Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better

 **

$0.525/M

 [GLM 5.3 Flash](https://undominated.ai/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/)

LMArena Elo · higher is better

Scale starts at 1040 Elo

 **

1469.6

Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better

 **

$0.238/M

MiniMax M2 takes text, returns up to 176,947 tokens from a 204,800-token context, and is listed by 3 sellers.

Compared against 145 rated, priced models on this lens: 6 models dominate it and give up nothing, 5 more dominate it but give something up. MiniMax M2 scores 1339.9 at $0.525 per million tokens for this mix.

## Envelope-safe replacements

Each row scores at least as high, costs no more, and covers this model’s context, output, modalities, tools, and reasoning. A cheaper narrower model is not listed here.

| Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You save |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [GLM 5.3 Flash](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/) | 1469.6 +129.7 | $0.238/M | 55% |
| [DeepSeek V4.1 Flash](/models/deepseek__deepseek-v4.1-flash/) | 1462.5 +122.6 | $0.182/M | 65% |
| [Gemma 4 26B A4B](/models/google__gemma-4-26b-a4b-it/) | 1433.9 +94.0 | $0.127/M | 76% |
| [DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423](/models/deepseek__deepseek-v4-flash/) | 1432.1 +92.2 | $0.113/M | 79% |
| [MiniMax M3](/models/minimax__minimax-m3/) | 1432.1 +92.2 | $0.485/M | 8% |
| [MiniMax M2.7](/models/minimax__minimax-m2.7/) | 1404.6 +64.7 | $0.525/M | 0% |

## Higher score, lower price, named losses

Not a drop-in. The loss is why these are not a recommendation.

| Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You give up |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [MiMo-V2.6-Flash](/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.6-flash/) | 1456.4 | $0.175/M | max output |
| [Gemma 4 31B](/models/google__gemma-4-31b-it/) | 1443.4 | $0.205/M | max output |
| [Hy3](/models/tencent__hy3/) | 1440.7 | $0.231/M | max output |
| [GPT-5.6 Luna](/models/openai__gpt-5.6-luna/) | 1431.0 | $0.450/M | max output |
| [MiMo-V2.5](/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.5/) | 1427.5 | $0.175/M | max output |

 145 rated, priced standard models. Chartreuse is the frontier. Cobalt is the model you named, when it is not on the staircase.

Copy watch URL [Open the frontier](/frontier/)

The link keeps the model and mix, using the current catalogue. Monthly spend and switching cost stay in this browser tab and are left out of the link.

## Saved decision references

Save the model, workload, catalogue date and capability-preservation rule in this browser. Spend, switching cost and bill contents are not saved. No account or notifications.

Constraint: replacements must preserve the model’s capabilities; any losses remain named trade-offs.

Historical decisions cannot be fully replayed from saved references: past prices, scores and capability evidence are not stored.

 Save this reference

## Continue your investigation

 - [Build a shortlist](/compare/)
- [Inspect alternatives](/alternatives/)
- [Check billing conditions](/traps/)
- [Read model evidence](/models/)
