MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Mistral Medium 3.5
MiniMax · China | Mistral AI · France · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash for $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length or 428b-parameter moe (about 23b active) with weights on hugging face from october 23, 2026. Pick Mistral Medium 3.5 for strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier or 128b dense open-weight model — self-hostable. On a tight budget at scale, MiniMax M3.1 Flash is the value pick.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash (MiniMax, China) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI, France) line up two different AI ecosystems against each other — a comparison that is as much about cost philosophy and openness as raw capability. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is miniMax's October 19, 2026 always-thinking agentic Flash model - 1M context, text/image/video input, $0.15/$0.60 and open weights under a community license. Mistral Medium 3.5 is mistral's efficient 128B open-weight model — a single dense model unifying reasoning and coding that punches above its size on independent tests (AA Index 30). They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Price: MiniMax M3.1 Flash is about 10× cheaper on input ($0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens vs $1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens) — a large enough gap that at scale it can be the single biggest line item in the decision.
- ▸Context window: MiniMax M3.1 Flash holds 3.9× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
- ▸Recency: MiniMax M3.1 Flash is the newer model by about 6 months (released October 19, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
- ▸Ecosystem: this is a China-vs-France matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Mistral Medium 3.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax (China) | Mistral AI (France) |
| Released | October 19, 2026 | April 28, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) | 256K (~384 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens | $1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens |
| Open weight? | Yes — self-hostable | Yes — self-hostable |
| Modalities | text, image, video, code | text, image, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
$0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Its 1M tokens window holds about 3.9× more than Mistral Medium 3.5's 256K in a single prompt.
428B-parameter MoE (about 23B active) with weights on Hugging Face from October 23, 2026
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax's October 19, 2026 always-thinking agentic Flash model - 1M context, text/image/video input, $0.15/$0.60 and open weights under a community license — and it runs cheaper at $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens.
DeepSWE v1.1 of 73.7% and OSWorld V2 of 61.7 (MiniMax-reported)
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax's October 19, 2026 always-thinking agentic Flash model - 1M context, text/image/video input, $0.15/$0.60 and open weights under a community license — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.
Strong intelligence-for-size — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 30, near the top of its price tier
Mistral Medium 3.5
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is comparatively weak here — behind DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 on Artificial Analysis's independent index
128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable
Mistral Medium 3.5
Mistral Medium 3.5 lists 128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable among its strengths; MiniMax M3.1 Flash does not.
Unifies reasoning and coding into one model with an adjustable reasoning effort
Mistral Medium 3.5
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is comparatively weak here — thinking is always on and default effort is max, which inflates output-token cost
Lowest cost at scale
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
At $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Its 1M tokens window is about 3.9× larger than Mistral Medium 3.5's 256K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ MiniMax M3.1 Flash
At $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens it undercuts Mistral Medium 3.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length
→ MiniMax M3.1 Flash
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier
→ Mistral Medium 3.5
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ Mistral Medium 3.5 or MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Origin (China vs France) affects where data is processed and which compliance regime applies — check the provider's terms for your region.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash: where it fits
MiniMax's October 19, 2026 always-thinking agentic Flash model - 1M context, text/image/video input, $0.15/$0.60 and open weights under a community license. Released October 19, 2026 by MiniMax, it is built for $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length, 428B-parameter MoE (about 23B active) with weights on Hugging Face from October 23, 2026, deepSWE v1.1 of 73.7% and OSWorld V2 of 61.7 (MiniMax-reported), and artificial Analysis Intelligence Index of 42, 13 points above MiniMax M3.
Its trade-offs are real: thinking is always on and default effort is max, which inflates output-token cost, behind DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 on Artificial Analysis's independent index, custom MiniMax Community license: attribution required, and products above $20M annual revenue need written authorization, and benchmarks are mostly self-reported; no SWE-bench Verified figure published. At $0.15 in / $0.6 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
Mistral Medium 3.5: where it fits
Mistral's efficient 128B open-weight model — a single dense model unifying reasoning and coding that punches above its size on independent tests (AA Index 30). Released April 28, 2026 by Mistral AI, it is built for strong intelligence-for-size — Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 30, near the top of its price tier, 128B dense open-weight model — self-hostable, unifies reasoning and coding into one model with an adjustable reasoning effort, and 256K context with text and image input.
Its trade-offs: below the absolute frontier — a value/efficiency pick, not a flagship-beater, output pricing ($7.50/M) is higher than the cheapest Chinese rivals, license framing ('open' vs enterprise) varies across sources — confirm terms for commercial use, and no native video or audio. At $1.5 in / $7.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
This is less "which is smarter" and more "which ecosystem fits." MiniMax M3.1 Flash (China) and Mistral Medium 3.5 (France) differ on pricing philosophy, data-residency, and tooling as much as on raw scores. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is the cheaper option, which matters at volume. The pragmatic move is to run one real task through both and judge the outputs against your own constraints — including where your data is allowed to be processed.
Want both MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Mistral Medium 3.5 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 pricingFrequently asked questions
Is MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Mistral Medium 3.5 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, MiniMax M3.1 Flash leans toward $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens (cached $0.015) with flat pricing regardless of prompt length while Mistral Medium 3.5 leans toward strong intelligence-for-size — artificial analysis intelligence index 30, near the top of its price tier, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Mistral Medium 3.5?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is cheaper — $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens vs $1.5/$7.5 per 1M tokens, roughly 10× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash — 1M tokens vs 256K, about 3.9× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Mistral Medium 3.5 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you MiniMax M3.1 Flash, Mistral Medium 3.5 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, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Mistral Medium 3.5?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash — released October 19, 2026, about 6 months after Mistral Medium 3.5.
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.