Quick Answer
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MiniMax API costs $0.20 to $3 per per million tokens as of April 2026, with 2 plans available. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.

Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.

  • Free tier: No free tier available

MiniMax API offers 2 pricing tiers: Pay-as-you-go (MiniMax M1, M2, abab6.5), Enterprise. The Enterprise plan is enterprise chinese-market apps.

Compared to other llm api providers software, MiniMax API is positioned at the budget-friendly price point.

  • 2 documented hidden costs beyond list price

How much does MiniMax API cost?

MiniMax API pricing starts at $0.20/per million tokens across 2 plans, with enterprise pricing available on request. Plans include Pay-as-you-go (MiniMax M1, M2, abab6.5) (custom pricing), Enterprise (custom pricing).

MiniMax API Pricing Overview

MiniMax API has 2 pricing plans ranging from $0.20 to $3/per million tokens. The Pay-as-you-go (MiniMax M1, M2, abab6.5) plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for long-context (1m tokens) and chinese-language apps. The Enterprise plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for enterprise chinese-market apps.

There are at least 2 documented hidden costs beyond MiniMax API's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.

This pricing was last verified in April 23, 2026.

MiniMax API uses pay-as-you-go pricing across its model lineup — including MiniMax M1, M2, and abab6.5 — with no fixed monthly fee. Input costs range from $0.15 to $0.40 per 1M tokens and output from $0.95 to $2.20 per 1M tokens depending on the model, with several models offering steep cached input discounts. Enterprise customers can negotiate custom pricing directly with MiniMax.

How MiniMax API Pricing Compares

Compare MiniMax API pricing against top alternatives in LLM API Providers.

All MiniMax API Plans & Pricing

Plan Monthly Annual Best For
Pay-as-you-go (MiniMax M1, M2, abab6.5) Custom Custom Long-context (1M tokens) and Chinese-language apps
Enterprise Contact Sales Contact Sales Enterprise Chinese-market apps
View all features by plan

Pay-as-you-go (MiniMax M1, M2, abab6.5)

  • MiniMax M1: ~$1.20/1M input, $3/1M output (1M context window)
  • MiniMax M2: reasoning model, comparable pricing
  • abab6.5-chat: $0.20/1M input (Chinese optimization)
  • T2A voice synthesis: separate per-character billing

Enterprise

  • Volume discounts
  • On-prem deployment

Usage-Based Rates

Per-unit pricing for MiniMax API API usage.

Pay-as-you-go (MiniMax M1, M2, abab6.5)

Model Input Output Cached Per
minimax-m1 1000K ctx $1.20 $3.00 1M tokens
abab6-5-chat 32K ctx $0.200 $0.200 1M tokens
  • International tier billing at intl.minimaxi.com; Mainland tier has separate pricing

Compare MiniMax API vs Alternatives

Before committing to MiniMax API, compare pricing with these 3 alternatives in the same category.

All MiniMax API alternatives & migration guides

What Companies Actually Pay for MiniMax API

Median per-1M-token pricing across 7 models
Input $0.290/1M
Output $1.20/1M
Flagship models in this provider's catalog
Model Input /1M Output /1M Blended /1M
MiniMax M1 $0.400 $2.20
MiniMax M2.7 $0.300 $1.20
MiniMax M2-her $0.300 $1.20
MiniMax-01 $0.200 $1.10
MiniMax M2.5 $0.150 $1.20
Review scores
Top pricing complaints
No unlimited pricing tier — all usage is metered, making cost forecasting difficultCredit-based pricing structure is confusing with no clear per-second or per-token breakdown visible upfrontLimited output control compared to some competitors
Source: OpenRouter API — medians aggregated from 7 models routed. Reflects router-surface pricing (may include modest markup vs direct provider rates).

MiniMax API Year 1 Total Cost by Company Size

Real deployment costs including licenses, implementation, training, and admin — not just the sticker price.

Light API Usage (1M tokens/month) Approximately $0.41/month ($0.11 input + $0.30 output at M2.5 rates) Year 1 total
$0.11 input
$0.30 output at M2.5 rates
Total Approximately $0.41/month ($0.11 input + $0.30 output at M2.5 rates)

Small application or prototype using MiniMax M2.5 at the lowest price point — roughly 750K input tokens and 250K output tokens per month.

Mid-Scale Application (100M tokens/month) Approximately $51.75/month ($21.75 input at $0.29/1M + $30 output at $1.20/1M) Year 1 total
$21.75 input at $0.29/1M
output at $1.20/1M $30
Total Approximately $51.75/month ($21.75 input at $0.29/1M + $30 output at $1.20/1M)

Production application using the median-priced MiniMax model mix — roughly 75M input and 25M output tokens per month based on provider median rates.

Flagship Model (MiniMax M1, 100M tokens/month) Approximately $85/month ($30 input at $0.40/1M + $55 output at $2.20/1M) Year 1 total
input at $0.40/1M $30
output at $2.20/1M $55
Total Approximately $85/month ($30 input at $0.40/1M + $55 output at $2.20/1M)

High-performance use case using MiniMax M1 with its 1M-token context window — 75M input and 25M output tokens per month.

OpenRouter pricing data, 2026-04-23

How MiniMax API Pricing Compares

Software Starting Price Top Price
MiniMax API $0.2/per million tokens $3/per million tokens
Amazon Bedrock $0.07/per million tokens $75/per million tokens
Anyscale $0.15/per million tokens $5/per million tokens
Baidu ERNIE API $0.1/per million tokens $10/per million tokens
Cerebras Inference API $0.1/per million tokens $6/per million tokens
Claude API $0.03/per million tokens $75/per million tokens

2 MiniMax API Hidden Costs Beyond the List Price

Beyond the listed price, MiniMax API has at least 2 documented hidden costs that can significantly increase total cost of ownership.

Watch for 2 hidden costs
  • Non-Cumulative Daily Free Credits (Consumer Platform) 5-10% of license costs
    low 1 source
    Reddit "They provide 4K credits for free each day that you log in, but it's not cumulative so if you don't use it that day, you lose it."
  • No Unlimited Pricing Option 10-30% of license costs
    medium 1 source
    Reddit "a quick look at KLING AI, and I could not find an unlimited option, and it was the same with MiniMax."
Tip

Ask your MiniMax API sales rep about these costs upfront. Getting them in writing before signing can save you from surprise charges later.

Full hidden costs breakdown →

Intelligence sourced from 1 independent sources
Reddit User discussions
Key claims include inline source attribution. Data verified against multiple independent sources. 4 source citations total.

MiniMax API Contract Terms

MiniMax API contracts do not auto-renew. Changes require advance notice. These terms are sourced from verified buyer experiences.

Contract Terms
Auto-Renewal No
Mid-Term Downgrade Not allowed
Payment Terms Pay-as-you-go token consumption; Enterprise terms custom-quoted

How to Negotiate MiniMax API Pricing

MiniMax API contracts are negotiable. These 1 tactics are sourced from real buyer experiences and procurement specialists.

Negotiation Playbook 1 tactics
Leverage Enterprise Tier for Volume Commitments medium success

MiniMax offers a custom Enterprise tier. If your projected monthly token spend exceeds several million tokens, contact MiniMax directly to negotiate volume-based discounts. Enterprise conversations are most productive when you can present concrete usage projections.

Current tier data (Enterprise tier exists)

Full negotiation guide →

MiniMax API Pricing FAQ

01 How does MiniMax API pricing work?

MiniMax API uses a pay-as-you-go model billed per token consumed. The Pay-as-you-go tier covers MiniMax M1, M2, abab6.5, and other models with no monthly minimum. Enterprise customers receive custom pricing negotiated directly. Based on OpenRouter data, the provider median is approximately $0.29/1M input tokens and $1.20/1M output tokens across all models.

02 Which MiniMax API model is most affordable?

MiniMax M2.5 is the lowest-cost option at $0.15/1M input tokens and $1.20/1M output tokens via OpenRouter, with a 196,608-token context window. MiniMax-01 ($0.20/$1.10 per 1M) and MiniMax M2.1 ($0.29/$0.95 per 1M) are also budget-friendly. The flagship MiniMax M1 is the most expensive at $0.40/1M input and $2.20/1M output, but offers the largest 1M-token context window.

03 What context window does MiniMax M1 support?

MiniMax M1 supports a 1,000,000-token (1M) context window — one of the largest available. MiniMax-01 also supports approximately 1M tokens. MiniMax M2, M2.1, M2.5, and M2.7 support 196,608-token context windows, while MiniMax M2-her supports 65,536 tokens.

04 How does MiniMax API pricing compare to competitors?

Reddit users consistently note MiniMax offers competitive pricing relative to alternatives in the AI video and multimodal space. One user stated: 'Minimax has better pricing. Kling's pricing is going crazy high recently...' For LLM API use, MiniMax's median rates ($0.29/1M input, $1.20/1M output) are competitive in the mid-tier provider segment.

05 Does MiniMax API have a free tier?

The MiniMax API Pay-as-you-go tier does not include a free allowance per current tier data. The MiniMax consumer platform (Hailuo video, MiniMax Audio TTS) provides 4,000 non-cumulative free credits per login day, but this is separate from the developer API and credits expire if unused each day.

06 Is there a cached input discount for MiniMax models?

Yes — several MiniMax models available via OpenRouter offer cached input pricing. MiniMax M2.7 caches at $0.059/1M tokens (vs $0.30 standard), M2.5 at $0.075/1M (vs $0.15), M2-her at $0.03/1M (vs $0.30), M2.1 at $0.03/1M (vs $0.29), and M2 at $0.03/1M (vs $0.255). MiniMax M1 and MiniMax-01 do not list cached pricing.

Is this pricing incorrect? — we'll verify and update it.