MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs Palmyra X6
MiniMax · China | Writer · US · 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 Palmyra X6 for enterprise agentic workflows - built specifically for marketing/revenue teams running multi-step agents or writer says its harness upgrades cut agent-workflow token costs by roughly 52% and improve speed by roughly 48% (writer's own figures). Choose MiniMax M3.1 Flash if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Palmyra X6 if you want a managed API.
MiniMax M3.1 Flash (MiniMax, China) and Palmyra X6 (Writer, US) 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. Palmyra X6 is writer's enterprise agentic flagship - a GLM-5.2-based model with harness upgrades Writer says cut agent token costs by roughly half. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Cost model: MiniMax M3.1 Flash ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while Palmyra X6 is API-metered at Not published. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
- ▸Context window: MiniMax M3.1 Flash holds 7.8× more — 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) vs 128K (~192 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 2 months (released October 19, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
- ▸Ecosystem: this is a China-vs-US matchup — they differ in pricing philosophy, data-residency options, and tooling ecosystems, not only benchmarks.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | MiniMax M3.1 Flash | Palmyra X6 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax (China) | Writer (US) |
| Released | October 19, 2026 | August 13, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) | 128K (~192 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens | Not published |
| Open weight? | Yes — self-hostable | No — API only |
| Modalities | text, image, video, code | text, 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 7.8× more than Palmyra X6's 128K 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 carries the larger 1M tokens context.
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 its weights are open while Palmyra X6 is API-only.
Enterprise agentic workflows - built specifically for marketing/revenue teams running multi-step agents
Palmyra X6
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is comparatively weak here — custom MiniMax Community license: attribution required, and products above $20M annual revenue need written authorization
Writer says its harness upgrades cut agent-workflow token costs by roughly 52% and improve speed by roughly 48% (Writer's own figures)
Palmyra X6
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is comparatively weak here — thinking is always on and default effort is max, which inflates output-token cost
A post-trained variant built on Z.ai's open-weight GLM-5.2, tuned specifically for business agent use
Palmyra X6
Palmyra X6 lists a post-trained variant built on Z.ai's open-weight GLM-5.2, tuned specifically for business agent use among its strengths; MiniMax M3.1 Flash does not.
Lowest cost at scale
Palmyra X6
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of MiniMax M3.1 Flash's $0.15/$0.6 per 1M tokens.
Largest single-prompt input
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Its 1M tokens window is about 7.8× larger than Palmyra X6's 128K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ Palmyra X6
At Not published it undercuts MiniMax M3.1 Flash, 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.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Palmyra X6 is API-only.
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 enterprise agentic workflows - built specifically for marketing/revenue teams running multi-step agents
→ Palmyra X6
That is its strongest area.
An enterprise with regional data-residency rules
→ Palmyra X6 or MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Origin (China vs US) 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.
Palmyra X6: where it fits
Writer's enterprise agentic flagship - a GLM-5.2-based model with harness upgrades Writer says cut agent token costs by roughly half. Released August 13, 2026 by Writer, it is built for enterprise agentic workflows - built specifically for marketing/revenue teams running multi-step agents, writer says its harness upgrades cut agent-workflow token costs by roughly 52% and improve speed by roughly 48% (Writer's own figures), and a post-trained variant built on Z.ai's open-weight GLM-5.2, tuned specifically for business agent use.
Its trade-offs: no public per-token API price - sold through Writer's enterprise platform, not a self-serve API, not independently benchmarked on general leaderboards like SWE-bench or Artificial Analysis, and built for a narrower enterprise-agent use case rather than general-purpose chat.
The bottom line for this matchup
The defining split here is open vs. closed. MiniMax M3.1 Flash gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Palmyra X6 gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.
Want both MiniMax M3.1 Flash and Palmyra X6 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 Palmyra X6 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 Palmyra X6 leans toward enterprise agentic workflows - built specifically for marketing/revenue teams running multi-step agents, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or Palmyra X6?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Palmyra X6 is API-metered at Not published. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash — 1M tokens vs 128K, about 7.8× 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 Palmyra X6 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you MiniMax M3.1 Flash, Palmyra X6 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 Palmyra X6?
MiniMax M3.1 Flash — released October 19, 2026, about 2 months after Palmyra X6.
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.