MiniMax M3 vs Gemma 4 26B A4B
Benchmark Performance
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | MiniMax-M3 | Gemma 4 26B-A4B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-01-011508720696 · arena_rating · statistical tie | 1,435.20100% of row best · rating · minimax-m3; 95% CI [1430.86827835, 1439.53977389]; votes 44544; rank 77 | 1,434.86100% of row best · rating · gemma-4-26b-a4b; 95% CI [1427.26766156, 1442.45594559]; votes 5814; rank 78 |
| LMArena Vision Arenavision-2026-08-27-011508720696 · arena_rating · statistical tie | 1,255.42100% of row best · rating · minimax-m3; 95% CI [1247.93588333, 1262.90862002]; votes 13390; rank 44 | 1,259.45100% of row best · rating · gemma-4-26b-a4b; 95% CI [1252.74042036, 1266.15761735]; votes 22710; rank 43 |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above · 2 ties | 0 benchmark winsTied overall | 0 benchmark winsTied overall |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Technical Differences
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | MiniMax-M3 | Gemma 4 26B-A4B |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | MiniMax | Google DeepMind |
| Family | Minimax M3 | Gemma 4 |
| Model | MiniMax-M3 | Gemma 4 26B-A4B |
| Version | MiniMax-M3 | Gemma 4 26B-A4B |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-06-01 | 2026-03-11 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 1,049K | 262K |
| Total parameters | 427B | 26B |
| Active parameters | 23B | 4B |
| License | other | apache-2.0 |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Deepinfra (Standard), Fireworks Ai (Standard), Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard), Together Ai (Standard) | Deepinfra (Standard), Google Gemini (Standard), Openrouter (Standard), Together Ai (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools |
17 comparable fields · 11 material differences · Pair passes the primary-source comparison gate
MiniMax M3 Capabilities
Gemma 4 26B A4B Capabilities
Internal Comparison Graph
Related Comparisons
| A | Pair | B | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
MiniMax-M2.7MiniMax | vs | MiniMax-M3MiniMax | family variantstext |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs |  GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | cross-developer peersimage, text |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle DeepMind | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs |  DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs |  Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peersimage, text |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs |  Kimi-K3Moonshot AI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peerstext |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | cross-developer peersimage, text |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs |  Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
MiniMax M3 vs Gemma 4 26B A4B FAQs
Is MiniMax M3 or Gemma 4 26B A4B better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both MiniMax M3 and Gemma 4 26B A4B, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3 or Gemma 4 26B A4B?+
MiniMax M3 is $0.28 and Gemma 4 26B A4B is $0.070 per million tokens, so Gemma 4 26B A4B is cheaper on this metric. MiniMax M3 is $1.10 and Gemma 4 26B A4B is $0.34 per million tokens, so Gemma 4 26B A4B is cheaper on this metric.
Which has a larger context window, MiniMax M3 or Gemma 4 26B A4B?+
MiniMax M3 has the larger sourced context window. MiniMax M3 supports 1,049K and Gemma 4 26B A4B supports 262K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, MiniMax M3 or Gemma 4 26B A4B?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: Neither model leads outside the score tolerance on the verified common benchmarks.
Can MiniMax M3 or Gemma 4 26B A4B be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. MiniMax M3 is open weight; Gemma 4 26B A4B is open weight.
Can MiniMax M3 and Gemma 4 26B A4B understand images?+
MiniMax M3 is documented with image input; Gemma 4 26B A4B is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, MiniMax M3 or Gemma 4 26B A4B?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. MiniMax M3 is — and Gemma 4 26B A4B is —.
Do MiniMax M3 and Gemma 4 26B A4B support reasoning and tool use?+
MiniMax M3: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Gemma 4 26B A4B: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, MiniMax M3 or Gemma 4 26B A4B?+
MiniMax M3 has 5 sourced provider routes; Gemma 4 26B A4B has 4, so MiniMax M3 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, MiniMax M3 or Gemma 4 26B A4B?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.