MiniMax M3 pricing for categorization

Quick start

Call MiniMax M3 with the OpenAI Python SDK pointed at api.minimax.chat:

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.minimax.chat/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["MINIMAX_API_KEY"],
)
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="minimax-m3",
    max_tokens=150,
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Your prompt here"}]
)
# Cost: ~$0.000420 per call at standard rates
# Input:  $0.30/MTok
# Output: $1.20/MTok

How MiniMax M3 compares on cost

Per-call cost for all models scoring 50+ on categorization benchmarks. Hover for details.

Cheapest viable option: GPT 5.6 Luna at $0.000340/call (19% less, 91/100 quality).

What drives categorization cost

Classification into a fixed taxonomy is token-efficient by construction: the taxonomy is the same on every call and the output is one label. Put the taxonomy in the cached prefix and the marginal cost per item approaches the cost of the item text alone. Model tier matters less here than in any other use case tracked.

For MiniMax M3 specifically, that means output tokens cost 4.0x more than input, at $1.20 vs $0.30 per MTok. At this use case’s 800/150 token split, output accounts for 43% of the $0.000420 per-call cost.

MiniMax M3 quality benchmarks for categorization

Benchmark data for categorization is pending for MiniMax M3. Test against your own evaluation suite before moving to production.

Benchmark data is not yet available for MiniMax M3. We recommend testing against your own evaluation criteria.

About MiniMax M3

Prices from platform.minimax.io/docs/pricing/overview (read 2026-10-11). Long context (>512K tokens) is billed above the listed input and output rates. Cache hit: $0.06/MTok input. No batch discount published. Not yet benchmarked, so never recommended.

Other models from MiniMax

You can compare MiniMax M3 head-to-head against any other model on our model comparison pages, or track how pricing has changed over time on the pricing history tracker.

Frequently asked questions