GPT-4.1 mini vs MiniMax-M2.5 vs Mistral Medium 3
Too close to call on our weighted score (MiniMax-M2.5 61, GPT-4.1 mini 60, Mistral Medium 3 53). The right pick depends on what you value most.
OpenAIGPT-4.1 mini
60/100- ECI135.0
- Price$0.40 / $1.60
- Context1.05M
MiniMaxMiniMax-M2.5
61/100- ECI146.7
- Price$0.30 / $1.20
- Context205K
Mistral AIMistral Medium 3
53/100- ECI134.1
- Price$0.40 / $2.00
- Context131K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (MiniMax-M2.5 61/100, GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Mistral Medium 3 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: MiniMax-M2.5 for raw capability and GPT-4.1 mini for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityMiniMax-M2.5Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 · Mistral Medium 3 134.1
- Lowest priceMiniMax-M2.5MiniMax-M2.5 $0.525 · GPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Mistral Medium 3 $0.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · MiniMax-M2.5 204,800 · Mistral Medium 3 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · MiniMax-M2.5: Text · Mistral Medium 3: Text, Images
- Self-hostingMiniMax-M2.5Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | GPT-4.1 mini | MiniMax-M2.5 | Mistral Medium 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 59 | 74 | 58 |
| Price | 25% | 57 | 63 | 54 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 35 | 50 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 32 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 60/100 | 61/100 | 53/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI | MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax | Mistral Medium 3Mistral AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 135.0 | 146.7 (best) | 134.1 |
| ECI rank | #115 of 148 | #66 of 148 (best) | #117 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 65.9% (best) | — | 59.5% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 6.7% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 44.7% (best) | — | 32.2% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 12.7% | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.40 | $0.30 (best) | $0.40 |
| Output | $1.60 | $1.20 (best) | $2.00 |
| Cached input | $0.10 | $0.03 (best) | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.70 | $0.525 (best) | $0.80 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official OpenAI API | Official MiniMax (minimax.io) API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,047,576 tokens (best) | 204,800 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gpt-4.1-mini | MiniMax-M2.5 | mistral-medium-2505 |
| API providers | 24 (best) | 21 | 5 |
| Released | Apr 14, 2025 | Feb 12, 2026 | May 7, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | — | May 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
- MiniMax-M2.5$5.40
- Mistral Medium 3$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini, MiniMax-M2.5 or Mistral Medium 3?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (MiniMax-M2.5 61/100, GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Mistral Medium 3 53/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: MiniMax-M2.5 for raw capability and GPT-4.1 mini for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini, MiniMax-M2.5 or Mistral Medium 3?
MiniMax-M2.5 is cheaper at $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price). GPT-4.1 mini costs $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.525 per million tokens for MiniMax-M2.5 versus $0.70 for GPT-4.1 mini (1.3× as much) and $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3 (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
MiniMax-M2.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 (#66 of 148), GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148) and Mistral Medium 3 134.1 (#117 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (142.3–147.9 vs 131.2–136.6), so the gap is a real one.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini, MiniMax-M2.5 and Mistral Medium 3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, MiniMax-M2.5 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.5 and 131,072 for Mistral Medium 3. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, MiniMax-M2.5 up to 131,072, Mistral Medium 3 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; MiniMax-M2.5 accepts text; Mistral Medium 3 accepts text and images. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
MiniMax-M2.5 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini and Mistral Medium 3 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
MiniMax-M2.5 is the newest, released Feb 12, 2026. Mistral Medium 3 came out May 7, 2025; GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Mistral Medium 3 May 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
Related comparisons
- GPT-4.1 mini vs QwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen) · ECI 137.6
- GPT-4.1 mini vs DeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeek · ECI 135.9
- GPT-4.1 mini vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B InstructMeta · ECI 132.2
- MiniMax-M2.5 vs GPT-5.4 nanoOpenAI · ECI 145.8
- MiniMax-M2.5 vs Qwen3.5 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) · ECI 146.8
- MiniMax-M2.5 vs DeepSeek V3.2DeepSeek · ECI 146.3
