DeepSeek V4 vs MiniMax M2
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
DeepSeek V4
DeepSeek · Mar 2026
The open-weights shock of 2026: ~81% SWE-bench Verified, a 1M context and MIT license at $0.30/$0.50 per million tokens.
MiniMax M2
68.9MiniMax · Oct 2025
A 10B-active MoE tuned purely for agents and code — striking capability-per-active-parameter at rock-bottom prices.
The verdict
DeepSeek V4 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for MiniMax M2. DeepSeek V4 is about 1.5x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). DeepSeek V4 also takes 1M of context versus 205K for MiniMax M2.
Benchmark head-to-head 1–0
Specs & pricing
| DeepSeek V4 | MiniMax M2 | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | 68.9 |
| Input price / 1M | $0.3 | $0.3 |
| Output price / 1M | $0.5 | $1.2 |
| Context window | 1M | 205K |
| Max output | 64K | — |
| Open weights | yes (MIT) | yes (MIT) |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text | text |
| Knowledge cutoff | Dec 2025 | Jun 2025 |
| Released | Mar 2026 | Oct 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $3.75 | $4.80 |
* 10M input + 1.5M output tokens per month at list prices, no caching. Green = better value on that row.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better, DeepSeek V4 or MiniMax M2?
- DeepSeek V4 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for MiniMax M2. DeepSeek V4 is about 1.5x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). DeepSeek V4 also takes 1M of context versus 205K for MiniMax M2.
- Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 or MiniMax M2?
- DeepSeek V4 costs $0.3/$0.5 per million input/output tokens, while MiniMax M2 costs $0.3/$1.2. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $3.75 versus $4.80.
- Which model is better for coding, DeepSeek V4 or MiniMax M2?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — DeepSeek V4 scores ~81% versus 69.4% for MiniMax M2, making DeepSeek V4 the stronger pick for coding agents.