Free to start

MiniMax: MiniMax M3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking

Try both on us. Starter credit covers your first requests, then one key routes MiniMax M3 and Kimi K2 Thinking. Switch by changing the model name.

Compare routesProviders, price, context, and policy posture in one view.

Use auto when uptime mattersKeep a primary model and let fallback handle provider failures.

Same API shapeUse the OpenAI client and set the model you want.

Practical read

Monthly evidence

MiniMax: MiniMax M3 has the lower published input-plus-output rate, more Credits provider routes and the larger context window. There is not enough recent probe data to compare speed.

$1.25545/1MMiniMax: MiniMax M3 cheapest route

$3.2705/1MMoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking cheapest route

1653 msMiniMax: MiniMax M3 fastest measured p50 TTFT via lyceum

not enough dataMoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking fastest measured p50 TTFT

The price comparison adds each route's rate for one million input tokens and one million output tokens; your cost depends on your input/output mix. Prices and live route measurements can change. Use the monthly reports when you need a stable evidence window, then run a small task-specific eval before choosing a production default.

MiniMax: MiniMax M3MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking

Model idminimax/minimax-m3moonshotai/kimi-k2-thinking

Publisher MiniMax Kimi

AI IQ IQ 115#55 IQ 92#152

Context1,048,576 tokens262,144 tokens

Credits provider routes153

Cheapest route$1.25545/1M$3.2705/1M

Cached input$0.05275/1M to $0.2532/1M$0.15825/1M to $0.3165/1M

Privacy posturehas ZDR routeprovider posture varies

Fastest measured p50 TTFT1653 ms via lyceumnot enough data

Highest measured throughput258 tok/s via fireworksnot enough data

Recent route uptime range100.00%100.00%

Modes chat chat

MiniMax: MiniMax M3 routes

Overview15 Credits routes
PricingInput, cached input, and output rates
BenchmarksTrustedRouter and external sources
ProvidersAll serving providers

MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking routes

Overview3 Credits routes
PricingInput, cached input, and output rates
ProvidersAll serving providers

Related comparisons

Browse every comparison

MiniMax: MiniMax M3 vs Z.ai: GLM 5.348 combined provider routes
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 vs Z.ai: GLM 5.247 combined provider routes
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 vs Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash47 combined provider routes
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K343 combined provider routes
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 vs MiniMax: MiniMax M341 combined provider routes
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs MiniMax: MiniMax M339 combined provider routes
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 vs OpenAI: gpt-oss-120b39 combined provider routes
MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking vs Z.ai: GLM 5.336 combined provider routes

Production choice

Pick a default model. Keep fallback enabled.

TrustedRouter is useful when you know the model you want, but still need provider rollover, budget limits, usage records, and a prompt path you can verify.

OpenAI clientPython

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.trustedrouter.com/v1",
    api_key="sk-tr-v1-..."
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="minimax/minimax-m3",
    messages=messages,
)

Questions

Which should I use, MiniMax: MiniMax M3 or MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking?

MiniMax: MiniMax M3 has the lower published input-plus-output rate, more Credits provider routes and the larger context window. There is not enough recent probe data to compare speed.

Is MiniMax: MiniMax M3 or MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking cheaper?

The current cheapest TrustedRouter route is $1.25545/1M for MiniMax: MiniMax M3 and $3.2705/1M for MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking. The comparison uses current catalog prices and updates as provider pricing changes.

Is MiniMax: MiniMax M3 or MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking faster?

Current measured p50 time to first token is 1653 ms for MiniMax: MiniMax M3 and not enough data for MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking. These are routed probe measurements, not vendor-advertised speeds, and update as new samples arrive.

Can I test MiniMax: MiniMax M3 and MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 Thinking with the same API?

Yes. Use the same OpenAI-compatible TrustedRouter base URL and API key, then change only the model id between minimax/minimax-m3 and moonshotai/kimi-k2-thinking. This makes side-by-side evals possible without maintaining two provider integrations.