MiniMax M2.5 vs MiniMax M3
MiniMax M2.5 and MiniMax M3 match in llmrun Score, with values of 111.8 versus 111.0; neither fits 24 GB.
Model A · MiniMax
MiniMax M2.5228.7B · 11B active · 192K context · Other · Feb 2026
Model B · MiniMax
MiniMax M3427.0B · 19.8B active · 1M context · Other · Jun 2026
Choose MiniMax M2.5 if you want…
Stronger at reasoning
113.7 vs 107.2
Fits a Mac 128 GB
Q3_K_L · 119.6 GB; MiniMax M3 needs 119.2 GB at its smallest quant
Lighter on memory
137.8 vs 256.7 GB at Q4_K_M
Also does chat
MiniMax M3 doesn't list it
Choose MiniMax M3 if you want…
Ahead on the benchmarks
3 of 3 shared boards
Longer context window
1M vs 192K tokens
Also does vision
MiniMax M2.5 doesn't list it
Newer release
Jun 2026 vs Feb 2026
On your hardware
Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.
8 GB
RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier
MiniMax M2.5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 65.3 GB
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
MiniMax M2.5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 65.3 GB
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
MiniMax M2.5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 65.3 GB
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
MiniMax M2.5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 65.3 GB
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
MiniMax M2.5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 65.3 GB
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
MiniMax M2.5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 65.3 GB
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
MiniMax M2.5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 65.3 GB
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
MiniMax M2.5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 65.3 GB
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
MiniMax M2.5
Q3_K_L · ~37 tok/s
119.6 GB · up to 32Kbetter quant
MiniMax M3
IQ2_XXS · ~38 tok/s
119.2 GB · up to 64K
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
MiniMax M2.5
MiniMax M3
Coding
MiniMax M2.5
MiniMax M3
Agents
MiniMax M2.5
MiniMax M3
Math
MiniMax M2.5
no data
MiniMax M3
Science
MiniMax M2.5
no data
MiniMax M3
Reasoning
MiniMax M2.5
MiniMax M3
MiniMax M2.5 · #19 of 92 open models · #6 of 71 that fit ≤192 GB
MiniMax M3 · #22 of 92 open models · #19 of 88 that fit ≤512 GB
MiniMax M2.5
1390.9#56/186 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
MiniMax M3
1440.5#20/186 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
MiniMax M2.5
1386.7#28/50 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
MiniMax M3
1481.7#16/50 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
MiniMax M2.5
4.0%#21/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Feb 2026
MiniMax M3
18.0%#13/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jun 2026
26 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
MiniMax M2.5
618.2#25/42 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Feb 2026
MiniMax M3
640.0#23/42 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jun 2026
MiniMax M2.5
-23.2#17/17 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Feb 2026
MiniMax M3
2157.8#10/17 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jun 2026
Only MiniMax M2.5 (8)
- SWE-bench Verified75.8%
- Terminal-Bench42.7%
- ARC-AGI-24.9%
- MMLU-Pro80.1%
- SWE-bench Multilingual68.3%
- ARC-AGI63.7%
- CL-bench11.4%
- CL-bench Life6.3%
Only MiniMax M3 (16)
- GPQA Diamond90.9%
- LiveBench Coding68.2
- LiveBench Reasoning74.5
- AIME 2024/202571.1%
- LiveBench Math77.0
- SciCode47.1%
- SimpleBench45.8%
- FrontierCode14.7%
- Chess Puzzles14.0%
- CritPt3.7%
- DTBench78.9%
- LMCA33.7%
- APEX-Agents37.7%
- ForecastBench61.4
- Mystery Game Puzzles8.0%
- Surface Evolver Bench55.0%
VRAM by quantization
Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.
Q2_K
MiniMax M2.5
97.8 GB83.3 GB file
32K 102 GB · 128K 114 GB
MiniMax M3
182 GB151.9 GB file
32K 185 GB · 128K 194 GB
Q3_K_S
MiniMax M2.5
101 GB98.7 GB file
32K 105 GB · 128K 117 GB
MiniMax M3
187 GB187.3 GB file
32K 190 GB · 128K 199 GB
Q3_K_M
MiniMax M2.5
112 GB109.3 GB file
32K 116 GB · 128K 128 GB
MiniMax M3
209 GB195.5 GB file
32K 212 GB · 128K 221 GB
Q4_0
MiniMax M2.5
115 GB129.5 GB file
32K 119 GB · 128K 131 GB
MiniMax M3
214 GB243.6 GB file
32K 217 GB · 128K 226 GB
Q4_K_M
MiniMax M2.5
138 GB138.3 GB file
32K 142 GB · 128K 154 GB
MiniMax M3
257 GB264.9 GB file
32K 260 GB · 128K 269 GB
Q5_K_M
MiniMax M2.5
164 GB162.3 GB file
32K 167 GB · 128K 180 GB
MiniMax M3
305 GB318.7 GB file
32K 308 GB · 128K 317 GB
Q6_K
MiniMax M2.5
189 GB187.8 GB file
32K 193 GB · 128K 206 GB
MiniMax M3
353 GB355.3 GB file
32K 356 GB · 128K 365 GB
Q8_0
MiniMax M2.5
229 GB243.1 GB file
32K 233 GB · 128K 246 GB
MiniMax M3
428 GB453.6 GB file
32K 430 GB · 128K 439 GB
16 more quants
IQ2_XXS
MiniMax M2.5
63.5 GB74.1 GB file
32K 67.4 GB · 128K 79.8 GB
MiniMax M3
118 GB134.9 GB file
32K 121 GB · 128K 130 GB
IQ2_XS
MiniMax M2.5
69.2 GB67.0 GB file
32K 73.1 GB · 128K 85.6 GB
MiniMax M3
129 GB129.5 GB file
32K 131 GB · 128K 140 GB
IQ2_S
MiniMax M2.5
72.0 GB68.0 GB file
32K 75.9 GB · 128K 88.4 GB
MiniMax M3
134 GB132.1 GB file
32K 137 GB · 128K 146 GB
IQ2_M
MiniMax M2.5
77.8 GB78.2 GB file
32K 81.7 GB · 128K 94.1 GB
MiniMax M3
145 GB135.1 GB file
32K 147 GB · 128K 157 GB
IQ3_XXS
MiniMax M2.5
89.2 GB93.3 GB file
32K 93.1 GB · 128K 106 GB
MiniMax M3
166 GB160.3 GB file
32K 169 GB · 128K 178 GB
Q2_K_S
MiniMax M2.5
92.0 GB77.6 GB file
32K 95.9 GB · 128K 108 GB
MiniMax M3
not listed
IQ3_XS
MiniMax M2.5
94.9 GB93.3 GB file
32K 98.8 GB · 128K 111 GB
MiniMax M3
177 GB196.4 GB file
32K 179 GB · 128K 189 GB
IQ3_S
MiniMax M2.5
97.8 GB98.7 GB file
32K 102 GB · 128K 114 GB
MiniMax M3
182 GB175.6 GB file
32K 185 GB · 128K 194 GB
IQ3_M
MiniMax M2.5
103 GB100.0 GB file
32K 107 GB · 128K 120 GB
MiniMax M3
193 GB205.5 GB file
32K 195 GB · 128K 205 GB
Q3_K_L
MiniMax M2.5
118 GB118.4 GB file
32K 122 GB · 128K 134 GB
MiniMax M3
219 GB205.0 GB file
32K 222 GB · 128K 231 GB
IQ4_XS
MiniMax M2.5
123 GB121.9 GB file
32K 127 GB · 128K 140 GB
MiniMax M3
230 GB208.5 GB file
32K 233 GB · 128K 242 GB
IQ4_NL
MiniMax M2.5
129 GB129.0 GB file
32K 133 GB · 128K 146 GB
MiniMax M3
241 GB212.7 GB file
32K 244 GB · 128K 253 GB
Q4_1
MiniMax M2.5
129 GB143.2 GB file
32K 133 GB · 128K 146 GB
MiniMax M3
241 GB268.9 GB file
32K 244 GB · 128K 253 GB
Q4_K_S
MiniMax M2.5
129 GB130.0 GB file
32K 133 GB · 128K 146 GB
MiniMax M3
241 GB248.6 GB file
32K 244 GB · 128K 253 GB
Q5_K_S
MiniMax M2.5
158 GB157.5 GB file
32K 162 GB · 128K 174 GB
MiniMax M3
294 GB299.7 GB file
32K 297 GB · 128K 306 GB
BF16
MiniMax M2.5
458 GB457.5 GB file
32K 462 GB · 128K 474 GB
MiniMax M3
855 GB852.9 GB file
32K 857 GB · 128K 866 GB
MiniMax M2.5
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/MiniMax-M2.5-GGUF:Q4_K_MMiniMax M3
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_M| Spec | MiniMax M2.5 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | MiniMax | MiniMax |
| Parameters | 228.7B | 427.0B |
| Active parameters | 11B per token | 20B per token |
| Architecture | MiniMaxM2ForCausalLM | MiniMaxM3SparseForConditionalGeneration |
| Context | 192K tokens | 1M tokens |
| Modalities | Chat, Function-calling | Vision, Function-calling |
| License | Other | Other |
| Released | Feb 2026 | Jun 2026 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, MiniMax M2.5 or MiniMax M3?
MiniMax M2.5 and MiniMax M3 match in llmrun Score, with values of 111.8 versus 111.0; neither fits 24 GB. Choose MiniMax M2.5 for stronger at reasoning and fits a Mac 128 GB; choose MiniMax M3 for ahead on the benchmarks and longer context window.
Which needs less VRAM, MiniMax M2.5 or MiniMax M3?
At Q4_K_M, MiniMax M2.5 requires 137.8 GB while MiniMax M3 needs 256.7 GB, making MiniMax M2.5 the easier model to run on your local setup.
Can I run MiniMax M2.5 or MiniMax M3 on a 16 GB GPU?
MiniMax M2.5 does not fit (smallest quant needs 65.3 GB); MiniMax M3 does not fit (smallest quant needs 119.2 GB).
Which has a longer context window, MiniMax M2.5 or MiniMax M3?
MiniMax M2.5 supports 196,608 tokens and MiniMax M3 supports 1,048,576 tokens.