ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

MiniMax-M2.5 vs GPT-5.4 mini vs GPT-5.4 nano

GPT-5.4 nano comes out ahead, 68 to 63 and 61 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. MiniMax

    MiniMax-M2.5

    Released Feb 12, 2026

    61/100
    • ECI146.7
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context205K
  2. OpenAI

    GPT-5.4 mini

    Released Mar 17, 2026

    63/100
    • ECI148.8
    • Price$0.75 / $4.50
    • Context400K
  3. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-5.4 nano

    Released Mar 17, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI145.8
    • Price$0.20 / $1.25
    • Context400K
01 — Verdict

GPT-5.4 nano is our pick

GPT-5.4 nano is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63) and MiniMax-M2.5 (61). It leads on price. GPT-5.4 mini wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5.4 miniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 · MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 · GPT-5.4 nano 145.8
  • Lowest priceGPT-5.4 nanoGPT-5.4 nano $0.463 · MiniMax-M2.5 $0.525 · GPT-5.4 mini $1.69 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.4 mini and GPT-5.4 nanoGPT-5.4 mini 400,000 · GPT-5.4 nano 400,000 · MiniMax-M2.5 204,800 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-5.4 mini and GPT-5.4 nanoMiniMax-M2.5: Text · GPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images · GPT-5.4 nano: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingMiniMax-M2.5Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMiniMax-M2.5GPT-5.4 miniGPT-5.4 nano
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%747773
Price25%633966
Inputs & features15%357070
Context window10%324444
Overall100%61/10063/10068/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

MiniMax-M2.5 vs GPT-5.4 mini vs GPT-5.4 nano specifications side by side
SpecificationMiniMax-M2.5MiniMaxGPT-5.4 miniOpenAIGPT-5.4 nanoOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)146.7148.8 (best)145.8
ECI rank#66 of 148#56 of 148 (best)#75 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—86.9% (best)78.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—51.2% (best)44.9%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—88.9% (best)87.8%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—29.4% (best)11.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.75$0.20 (best)
Output$1.20 (best)$4.50$1.25
Cached input$0.03$0.075$0.02 (best)
Blended (3:1)$0.525$1.69$0.463 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial MiniMax (minimax.io) APIOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window204,800 tokens400,000 tokens (best)400,000 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens (best)128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoYesYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high · xhighYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputNoYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietaryProprietary
API model IDMiniMax-M2.5gpt-5.4-minigpt-5.4-nano
API providers2129 (best)26
ReleasedFeb 12, 2026Mar 17, 2026Mar 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Aug 31, 2025Aug 31, 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • MiniMax-M2.5$5.40
  • GPT-5.4 mini$16.50
  • GPT-5.4 nano$4.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: MiniMax-M2.5, GPT-5.4 mini or GPT-5.4 nano?

GPT-5.4 nano is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63) and MiniMax-M2.5 (61). It leads on price. GPT-5.4 mini wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M2.5, GPT-5.4 mini or GPT-5.4 nano?

GPT-5.4 nano is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.25 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). MiniMax-M2.5 costs $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) API price); GPT-5.4 mini costs $0.75 input / $4.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.463 per million tokens for GPT-5.4 nano versus $0.525 for MiniMax-M2.5 (1.1× as much) and $1.69 for GPT-5.4 mini (3.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5.4 mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#56 of 148), MiniMax-M2.5 146.7 (#66 of 148) and GPT-5.4 nano 145.8 (#75 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.1–150.5 vs 142.3–147.9), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for MiniMax-M2.5, GPT-5.4 mini and GPT-5.4 nano yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.4 mini 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-5.4 mini and GPT-5.4 nano have the largest context windows (400,000 and 400,000 tokens), against 204,800 for MiniMax-M2.5. Maximum output per response: MiniMax-M2.5 up to 131,072, GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000, GPT-5.4 nano up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

MiniMax-M2.5 accepts text; GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images; GPT-5.4 nano accepts text and images. GPT-5.4 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-5.4 mini and GPT-5.4 nano is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-5.4 mini is the newest, released Mar 17, 2026. GPT-5.4 nano came out Mar 17, 2026; MiniMax-M2.5 came out Feb 12, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 mini Aug 31, 2025, GPT-5.4 nano Aug 31, 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.