Hunyuan Hy3 vs MiniMax M2.7

Tencent · China  |  MiniMax · China · Updated June 2026

Quick verdict

Pick Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost or runs a 295b model at the cost of a 21b — only 21b parameters active per token. Pick MiniMax M2.7 for agentic and terminal coding well above its price tier (57.0 on terminal-bench 2, vendor-reported) or independently ranked 14th of 97 on the artificial analysis intelligence index. On a tight budget at scale, Hunyuan Hy3 is the value pick.

Hunyuan Hy3 (Tencent) and MiniMax M2.7 (MiniMax) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Hunyuan Hy3 is a 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. MiniMax M2.7 is a cheap open-weight agentic coder with near-frontier terminal scores — held back by a non-commercial licence and non-standard benchmarks. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.

Key differences at a glance

Side-by-side specs

SpecHunyuan Hy3MiniMax M2.7
ProviderTencent (China) MiniMax (China)
ReleasedJuly 6, 2026 March 18, 2026
Context window256K (~384 pages) 205K (~307 pages)
Price (in/out)Open weight (self-host / free) $0.3/$1.2 per 1M tokens
Open weight?Yes — self-hostable Yes — self-hostable
Modalitiestext, code text, code
SWE-Bench VerifiedNot published Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1MNot published Not published

Who wins what

Frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost

Hunyuan Hy3

A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost — and it carries the larger 256K context.

Runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token

Hunyuan Hy3

Its 256K window holds about 1.3× more than MiniMax M2.7's 205K in a single prompt.

Clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out

Hunyuan Hy3

A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost — and it is the newer of the two.

Agentic and terminal coding well above its price tier (57.0 on Terminal-Bench 2, vendor-reported)

MiniMax M2.7

Hunyuan Hy3 is comparatively weak here — benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion

Independently ranked 14th of 97 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index

MiniMax M2.7

MiniMax M2.7 lists independently ranked 14th of 97 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index among its strengths; Hunyuan Hy3 does not.

Sparse mixture-of-experts — roughly 230B total but only ~10B active, so it runs on local hardware

MiniMax M2.7

Hunyuan Hy3 is comparatively weak here — the hosted API is China-jurisdiction, and self-hosting a 295B MoE still needs serious hardware

Lowest cost at scale

Hunyuan Hy3

Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of MiniMax M2.7's $0.3/$1.2 per 1M tokens.

Largest single-prompt input

Hunyuan Hy3

Its 256K window is about 1.3× larger than MiniMax M2.7's 205K, fitting roughly 384 pages in one prompt.

Which should you pick?

A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume

Hunyuan Hy3

At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts MiniMax M2.7, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.

Someone analysing very long documents or codebases

Hunyuan Hy3

Larger 256K window fits more in one prompt.

Anyone whose priority is frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost

Hunyuan Hy3

It is specifically built for that.

Anyone whose priority is agentic and terminal coding well above its price tier (57.0 on terminal-bench 2, vendor-reported)

MiniMax M2.7

That is its strongest area.

Hunyuan Hy3: where it fits

A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. Released July 6, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token, clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out, and broad day-one ecosystem support plus an FP8 checkpoint.

Its trade-offs are real: benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion, and the hosted API is China-jurisdiction, and self-hosting a 295B MoE still needs serious hardware. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.

MiniMax M2.7: where it fits

A cheap open-weight agentic coder with near-frontier terminal scores — held back by a non-commercial licence and non-standard benchmarks. Released March 18, 2026 by MiniMax, it is built for agentic and terminal coding well above its price tier (57.0 on Terminal-Bench 2, vendor-reported), independently ranked 14th of 97 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, sparse mixture-of-experts — roughly 230B total but only ~10B active, so it runs on local hardware, and served by five separate hosts at uniform pricing, so there is no provider lock-in.

Its trade-offs: open weights but a NON-COMMERCIAL licence — commercial use requires prior written authorisation from MiniMax, and at least one major tracker still mislabels it as MIT, reports SWE-Bench Pro instead of the standard Verified set, which blocks like-for-like comparison, and already superseded internally by M3, and its 205K context is small against 1M-class rivals. At $0.3 in / $1.2 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.

The bottom line for this matchup

Hunyuan Hy3 and MiniMax M2.7 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. Hunyuan Hy3 costs less per token; Hunyuan Hy3 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, MiniMax M2.7 for agentic and terminal coding well above its price tier (57.0 on terminal-bench 2, vendor-reported). Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.

Want both Hunyuan Hy3 and MiniMax M2.7 without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.

See pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is Hunyuan Hy3 or MiniMax M2.7 better for coding?

Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Hunyuan Hy3 leans toward frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost while MiniMax M2.7 leans toward agentic and terminal coding well above its price tier (57.0 on terminal-bench 2, vendor-reported), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.

Which is cheaper, Hunyuan Hy3 or MiniMax M2.7?

Hunyuan Hy3 is cheaper — Open weight (self-host / free) vs $0.3/$1.2 per 1M tokens.

Which has the bigger context window?

Hunyuan Hy3 — 256K vs 205K, about 1.3× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.

Can I use both Hunyuan Hy3 and MiniMax M2.7 together?

Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Hunyuan Hy3, MiniMax M2.7 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.

Which is newer, Hunyuan Hy3 or MiniMax M2.7?

Hunyuan Hy3 — released July 6, 2026, about 4 months after MiniMax M2.7.

Related comparisons

Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.