# MiniMax M3 vs GLM 5.2

On provider list prices, MiniMax M3 costs $0.30 per million input tokens against $1.40 for GLM 5.2: 4.7x apart. Output is $1.20 against $4.40 (3.7x). On Allocate both bill at list plus the 7% transaction fee.

## Specifications

| | MiniMax M3 | GLM 5.2 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Lab | MiniMaxAI | Zai Org |
| Access | API only | Open weights |
| Context window | 512K tokens | 256K tokens |
| List price, input | $0.30 / M tokens | $1.40 / M tokens |
| List price, output | $1.20 / M tokens | $4.40 / M tokens |
| Cached input | $0.06 / M tokens | $0.26 / M tokens |
| License | Proprietary API | Not listed |
| Fine-tunable | No | Yes |

Specifications 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 $3,220 on GLM 5.2 at list: a gap of $2,440, or 4.1x.

MiniMax M3 reads 512K tokens per request against 256K for GLM 5.2, 2.0x the window. That decides which one can take whole documents without splitting them.

## Choose MiniMax M3 for

- The lower list price ($0.30 in / $1.20 out per M tokens)
- The longer context window (512K vs 256K tokens)

## Choose GLM 5.2 for

- Agents on open weights
- Code and structured outputs
- Fine-tuning toward an owned model

## Common questions

### Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3 or GLM 5.2?

MiniMax M3, on this workload shape. At list prices it is $0.30/$1.20 per million tokens in and out against $1.40/$4.40 for GLM 5.2. Billed on Allocate: $0.32/$1.28 against $1.50/$4.71, list plus 7%.

### Which has the bigger context window?

MiniMax M3: 524,288 tokens (512K) against 262,144 (256K) for GLM 5.2.

### Can I fine-tune MiniMax M3 or GLM 5.2?

GLM 5.2 publishes open weights (Not listed) and can be fine-tuned on your own data. MiniMax M3 is a closed model served over API; its weights are not available.

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[HTML page](https://allocate.network/compare/minimaxai-minimax-m3-vs-z-ai-glm-5-2) · [MiniMax M3](https://allocate.network/models/minimaxai-minimax-m3.md) · [GLM 5.2](https://allocate.network/models/z-ai-glm-5-2.md) · [Machine-readable catalog](https://allocate.network/catalog.json)