Claude Opus 4.5 vs MiniMax M2.5
Wins 4 of 6 areas
Coding · Reasoning · Facts · Long documents
Wins 1 of 6 areas
Following instructions
Claude Opus 4.5 is the stronger all-rounder.MiniMax M2.5 is cheaper and better at following instructions.
Scores updated · 28 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the six areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking40Claude Opus 4.54 of 4 tests
- CodingWriting and fixing software31Claude Opus 4.53 of 5 tests · 1 tie
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up21Claude Opus 4.52 of 3 tests
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Claude Opus 4.51 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked01MiniMax M2.51 of 1 test
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own11Even1 each
Long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
MiniMax M2.5 costs 95% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The three tests each model wins by the widest margin. Scores are out of 100.
Where Claude Opus 4.5 pulls ahead
- Abstract visual puzzles that people can solveARC-AGI-2+32.7points ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+27.1points ahead
- Answers hard knowledge questions correctlyAA-Omniscience · Accuracy+20.4points ahead
Where MiniMax M2.5 pulls ahead
- Finds hard-to-locate facts by browsing the webBrowseComp+39.3points ahead
- Follows unfamiliar, precisely checkable instructionsIFBench+13.6points ahead
- Long, multi-file coding tasks in real codebasesSWE-bench Pro+3.4points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 28 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingClaude Opus 4.5
- Terminal-Bench HardClaude Opus 4.5 by 12.24734.8+12.2
- LMArena · WebDevClaude Opus 4.5 by 82 rating points14691387+82 rating
- SciCodeClaude Opus 4.5 by 6.949.542.6+6.9
- SWE-bench ProMiniMax M2.5 by 3.45255.4+3.4
- SWE-bench Verifiedtie80.980.2tie
AgentsEven
- BrowseCompMiniMax M2.5 by 39.33776.3+39.3
- GDPValClaude Opus 4.5 by 13.447.333.9+13.4
ReasoningClaude Opus 4.5
- ARC-AGI-2Claude Opus 4.5 by 32.737.64.9+32.7
- Humanity's Last ExamClaude Opus 4.5 by 9.630.120.5+9.6
- CritPtClaude Opus 4.5 by 3.54.61.1+3.5
- GPQA DiamondClaude Opus 4.5 by 1.886.684.8+1.8
FactsClaude Opus 4.5
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationClaude Opus 4.5 by 27.13911.9+27.1
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyClaude Opus 4.5 by 20.446.626.2+20.4
- Vectara HHEM hallucination ratelower is betterMiniMax M2.5 by 1.810.99.1+1.8
Following instructionsMiniMax M2.5
- IFBenchMiniMax M2.5 by 13.65871.6+13.6
Other results12 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- AA-OmniscienceClaude Opus 4.5 by 52.914-38.9+52.9
- ARC-AGI-1Claude Opus 4.5 by 18.38263.7+18.3
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexClaude Opus 4.5 by 10.447.837.4+10.4
- AA IntelligenceClaude Opus 4.5 by 6.329.122.8+6.3
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)MiniMax M2.5 by 5.889.595.3+5.8
- AIME25 no toolsClaude Opus 4.5 by 4.79186.3+4.7
- AA Agentic IndexClaude Opus 4.5 by 459.655.6+4
- vectara_avg_summary_lengthMiniMax M2.5 by 22.7 rating points114.5137.2+22.7 rating
- vectara_factual_consistencyMiniMax M2.5 by 1.889.190.9+1.8
- swe_bench_bashMiniMax M2.5 by 1.474.475.8+1.4
- Multi-SWE-BenchMiniMax M2.5 by 1.35051.3+1.3
- vectara_answer_ratetie98.798.2tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Opus 4.5 or MiniMax M2.5?
Claude Opus 4.5 wins four of the six areas where both have results: coding, reasoning, facts and long documents. MiniMax M2.5 wins following instructions, and costs 95% less. They are level on agents.
Which is better for coding?
Claude Opus 4.5. It wins 3 of the 5 coding tests both models report; MiniMax M2.5 wins 1, and 1 is a tie.
Which is cheaper?
Claude Opus 4.5 costs $5.00 per million input tokens and $25.00 per million output tokens; MiniMax M2.5 costs $0.30 and $1.20. That makes MiniMax M2.5 about 95% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 28 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 16 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 12 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.