Development ·
MiniMax launches M3.1 Flash with lower-cost API access
M3.1 Flash is available through MiniMax’s API and hosted coding products, with published token prices and an identified preview lineage.
Why it matters
Another model with inexpensive hosted access gives developers a concrete option to evaluate for repeated coding and tool calls. Actual task cost still depends on retries and correctness.
What to watch
Whether the promised weights arrive, what their license permits, and how independent task evaluations compare cost and correctness.
Still uncertain. Performance claims come from the vendor. Open weights are announced for October 23 and were not available in the inspected launch evidence.
Impact assessment reviewed 2026-10-19.
- Who it helps
- Developers comparing coding and tool-using models on their own tasks.
- Availability
- The API, M Plan and MiniMax Code are listed as available. The official X announcement schedules weights for October 23; their release is still ahead of this check.
What the price covers
Published API rates are $0.15 per million input tokens, $0.60 output and $0.015 cached input. A complete agent task can make many calls, so record its full bill and successful outcomes when comparing providers.
Why people are discussing it
Two independent launch-day video descriptions and a Hacker News thread discuss speed, coding and price. RepoChad questions broad cost comparisons and the lack of independent launch benchmarks. These are useful perspectives; neither video was watched in this review.
Space Bunny is MiniMax M3.1 Flash ↗MiniMax M3.1 Flash pricing and benchmark commentary ↗MiniMax M3.1 Flash discussion ↗
What you can do
- Start with a small task whose correct result you already know. Record total tokens, retries, elapsed time and the final artifact before deciding whether the price fits your workload. Open reference ↗
Where the evidence stops
Vendor benchmark and speed claims were not reproduced. Public counts are snapshots from a bounded sample; they do not establish a global ranking or measured growth.
Sources read. Primary text checked October 19, 2026 UTC. The external product or research workflow was not executed; reported results remain attributed to their authors.
Sources & further reading
Web · official
MiniMax M3.1 Flash launch ↗
Official October 19 launch read in the public browser after the web reader failed; API access, prices and preview identity checked.
MiniMax · page checked 2026-10-19 · Published 2026-10-19
YouTube · analysis
MiniMax M3.1 Flash pricing and benchmark commentary ↗
Expanded description and chapters read, including caveats about cached pricing and missing independent launch benchmarks. Video unplayed. Publication time is day precision.
RepoChad · video metadata checked 2026-10-19 · Published 2026-10-19
277 views · 5 likes · observed 2026-10-19 20:16 UTC
X · official
MiniMax M3.1 Flash original announcement ↗
Original public X post read. It gives an October 23 weight-release plan; this is a future commitment. Date precision is one day; views were rounded.
MiniMax · page checked 2026-10-19 · Published 2026-10-19
Approx. 809,600 views · observed 2026-10-19 20:16 UTC
YouTube · analysis
Space Bunny is MiniMax M3.1 Flash ↗
Expanded description and exact date read. Useful launch explanation; video and transcript were not watched. Possible affiliate links are disclosed. Publication time is day precision.
Codedigipt · video metadata checked 2026-10-19 · Published 2026-10-19
547 views · 12 likes · observed 2026-10-19 20:16 UTC
Highest observed views among 2 measured YouTube sources (2 reviewed). Counts change; this is a bounded comparison.
More sources reviewed (1)
Hacker News · discussion
MiniMax M3.1 Flash discussion ↗
The record over time (1)
Dated source checks and published explanations. An observation date can differ from the original release date.
- · Added to Current
2026-10-19: M3.1 Flash is available through MiniMax’s API and hosted coding products, with published token prices and an identified preview lineage.
Assessment: Another model with inexpensive hosted access gives developers a concrete option to evaluate for repeated coding and tool calls. Actual task cost still depends on retries and correctness.