GPT-5 nano vs MiniMax M2
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
OpenAI · Aug 2025
OpenAI's cheapest model — $0.05 per million input tokens — for latency-critical routing, autocomplete and bulk tagging.
MiniMax · Oct 2025
A 10B-active MoE tuned purely for agents and code — striking capability-per-active-parameter at rock-bottom prices.
The verdict
These two models don't yet share verified results on the benchmarks we track, so judge them on specs, pricing and intended use. On price the gap is dramatic: GPT-5 nano works out roughly 3.8x cheaper per blended million tokens. GPT-5 nano also takes 400K of context versus 205K for MiniMax M2. And MiniMax M2 is open-weights (MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
Specs & pricing
| GPT-5 nano | MiniMax M2 | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | 68.9 |
| Input price / 1M | $0.05 | $0.3 |
| Output price / 1M | $0.4 | $1.2 |
| Context window | 400K | 205K |
| Max output | 128K | — |
| Open weights | no | yes (MIT) |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text, image | text |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2024 | Jun 2025 |
| Released | Aug 2025 | Oct 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $1.10 | $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, GPT-5 nano or MiniMax M2?
- These two models don't yet share verified results on the benchmarks we track, so judge them on specs, pricing and intended use. On price the gap is dramatic: GPT-5 nano works out roughly 3.8x cheaper per blended million tokens. GPT-5 nano also takes 400K of context versus 205K for MiniMax M2. And MiniMax M2 is open-weights (MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
- Which is cheaper, GPT-5 nano or MiniMax M2?
- GPT-5 nano costs $0.05/$0.4 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 $1.10 versus $4.80.
- Which model is better for coding, GPT-5 nano or MiniMax M2?
- We don't yet track SWE-bench Verified results for both models; check their individual pages for coding-related scores.