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Model comparison - Similar price, same tier

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs MiniMax-M3

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is from DeepSeek and MiniMax-M3 is from MiniMax. Both list the same first-party API price: $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and MiniMax-M3 both have a 1,000,000-token context window; max output is 393,216 and 524,288 tokens per response. DeepSeek V4.1 Flash was released on September 10, 2026 and MiniMax-M3 on June 1, 2026. Both publish open weights.

Last verified from each provider's pricing page. All sources

DeepSeek - Open

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
Input / 1M
$0.30
Output / 1M
$1.20
Context
1M

MiniMax - Open

MiniMax-M3
Input / 1M
$0.30
Output / 1M
$1.20
Context
1M

Side-by-side specs

SpecDeepSeek V4.1 FlashMiniMax-M3
ProviderDeepSeekMiniMax
Input / 1M tokens$0.30$0.30
Output / 1M tokens$1.20$1.20
Cache read / 1M$0.006$0.06
Long-context rates above-512,000 tokens
Context window1,000,0001,000,000
Max output393,216524,288
Release date
WeightsOpenOpen
LicenseMITMiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community)
API model iddeepseek-flashMiniMax-M3
AI Gateway iddeepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017minimax/minimax-m3
Last verified

Prices in USD per 1M tokens at each provider's standard first-party rate. A dash means the provider does not bill that item separately or no primary page states it.

What each costs in practice

The same three workloads every model page uses, worked from each model's standard list rates. Swap in your own token counts with the math on each model's page.

WorkloadDeepSeek V4.1 FlashMiniMax-M3
One agent session1M input tokens and 100K output tokens, no caching.$0.42$0.42
A chat app10,000 requests a day at 2K input and 500 output tokens each.$12.00$360.00 per 30-day month$12.00$360.00 per 30-day month
The same session at a 90% cache hit90% of the input is read from the prompt cache. The one-time cache write premium is not included.$0.1554$0.204
Show the math

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

  • One agent sessionInput: 1M x $0.30 = $0.30Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12
  • A chat appInput: 20M x $0.30 = $6.00Output: 5M x $1.20 = $6.00
  • The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.006 = $0.0054Uncached input: 0.1M x $0.30 = $0.03Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12

MiniMax-M3

  • One agent sessionInput: 1M x $0.30 = $0.30Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12
  • A chat appInput: 20M x $0.30 = $6.00Output: 5M x $1.20 = $6.00
  • The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.06 = $0.054Uncached input: 0.1M x $0.30 = $0.03Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12

Benchmarks under the same setting

No board in the benchmark directory lists both DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and MiniMax-M3 under the same setting, so there is no like-for-like score to show here.

Set them up in your tools

Step-by-step guides whose official docs list DeepSeek V4.1 Flash or MiniMax-M3 by model id.

Model pages

DeepSeekDeepSeek V4.1 Flash pricing and specsFull rate card, worked cost examples and sources. Open weights.MiniMaxMiniMax-M3 pricing and specsFull rate card, worked cost examples and sources. Open weights.

FAQ

How do DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and MiniMax-M3 compare on price?

Both list the same first-party API price: $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens. For one agent session of 1M input and 100K output tokens with no caching, that is $0.42 on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and $0.42 on MiniMax-M3. Prices are each provider's first-party list rates, verified October 17, 2026 and October 17, 2026.

What are the context windows of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and MiniMax-M3?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and MiniMax-M3 both have a 1,000,000-token context window; max output is 393,216 and 524,288 tokens per response.

Are DeepSeek V4.1 Flash and MiniMax-M3 open weights?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash's weights are published at huggingface.co under the MIT. MiniMax-M3's weights are published at huggingface.co under the MiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community).

More comparisons

Sources

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash verified from api-docs.deepseek.com; MiniMax-M3 verified from platform.minimax.io. This page is as current as the older of the two: .

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