AllocateDeepseek V3.1 NVFP4 vs MiniMax M3
On provider list prices, MiniMax M3 costs $0.30 per million input tokens against $0.60 for Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4: 2.0x apart. Output is $1.20 against $1.70 (1.4x). On Allocate both bill at list plus the 7% transaction fee.
Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4M MiniMax M3Specifications and provider list prices from the Allocate catalog, checked 2026-07-08. Billed price is list plus the 7% transaction fee.
What the numbers say
Take 1,000,000 requests a month at 1,200 input and 350 output tokens each. That workload costs $780 a month on MiniMax M3 and $1,315 on Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 at list: a gap of $535, or 1.7x.
MiniMax M3 reads 512K tokens per request against 128K for Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4, 4.0x the window. That decides which one can take whole documents without splitting them.
Choose Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 for
- Open weights you can fine-tune and own
- Fine-tuning under a permissive license (MIT)
Choose MiniMax M3 for
- The lower list price ($0.30 in / $1.20 out per M tokens)
- The longer context window (512K vs 128K tokens)
- Published cached-input pricing ($0.06 per M tokens)
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 or MiniMax M3?
MiniMax M3, on this workload shape. At list prices it is $0.30/$1.20 per million tokens in and out against $0.60/$1.70 for Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4. Billed on Allocate: $0.32/$1.28 against $0.64/$1.82, list plus 7%.
Which has the bigger context window?
MiniMax M3: 524,288 tokens (512K) against 131,072 (128K) for Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4.
Can I fine-tune Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 or MiniMax M3?
Deepseek V3.1 NVFP4 publishes open weights (MIT) and can be fine-tuned on your own data. MiniMax M3 is a closed model served over API; its weights are not available.
Related comparisons
Run the numbers on your workload
Or don’t choose. On Allocate a route name is the contract: point yours at one model today, swap to the other tomorrow, and compare them on your live traffic with per-token metering.