MiniMax M3 vs SmolVLA 450M
At a Glance
| Compare |  MiniMax M3MiniMax |  SmolVLA 450MHugging Face LeRobot |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency | ||
| IntelligenceHigher is better · MM Intelligence v2.5 | #35 of 4632.6 score · 2/3 sources · provisional · missing ARC-AGI-2 · full-core range 21.8–55.1 | UnrankedNot in the 46-model eligible cohort |
| CostLower is better · Published-token output estimate | #3 of 44$0.017 per LiveBench case | UnrankedNot in the 44-model eligible cohort |
| EfficiencyHigher is better · MM Efficiency v1.5 | #10 of 3859.2 score · 2/3 sources · provisional · missing ARC-AGI-2 · full-core range 53.8–70.4 | UnrankedNot in the 38-model eligible cohort |
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 1,049K | Not reported |
| Model facts checked | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → | Aug 29, 2026View model evidence → |
Available Benchmarks
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | MiniMax-M3 | SmolVLA 450M |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | MiniMax | Hugging Face LeRobot |
| Family | Minimax M3 | SmolVLA |
| Model | MiniMax-M3 | SmolVLA 450M |
| Version | MiniMax-M3 | 450M |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-06-01 | 2025-06-03 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | Unknown |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Robot state |
| Output modalities | Text | Robot action |
| Context window | 1,049K | Unknown |
| Total parameters | 427B | 450M |
| Active parameters | 23B | Unknown |
| License | other | apache-2.0 |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| API available | Yes | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Provider access | Deepinfra (Standard), Fireworks Ai (Standard), Hugging Face (Standard), Openrouter (Standard), Together Ai (Standard) | Unknown |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, reasoning, tools | asynchronous-inference, fine-tuning, low-cost-hardware, manipulation |
| Robotics model type | Unknown | Vision-language-action model |
| Action representation | Unknown | Continuous action chunks from a flow-matching action expert |
| Control architecture | Unknown | SmolVLM2 backbone with flow-matching action expert |
| Inference location | Unknown | On device |
| Native control rate (Hz) | Unknown | Unknown |
| Supported embodiments | Unknown | SO-100, SO-101, LeKiwi, LIBERO Franka |
| Training data | Unknown | Compatibly licensed LeRobot community datasets totaling fewer than 30,000 episodes in the cited release. |
MiniMax M3 Capabilities
SmolVLA 450M Capabilities
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Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
MiniMax M3 vs SmolVLA 450M FAQs
Is MiniMax M3 or SmolVLA 450M better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both MiniMax M3 and SmolVLA 450M, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3 or SmolVLA 450M?+
Only MiniMax M3 has a directly sourced input price: $0.28 per million tokens. Only MiniMax M3 has a directly sourced output price: $1.10 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, MiniMax M3 or SmolVLA 450M?+
Neither model has a larger sourced context window in this comparison. MiniMax M3 is 1,049K and SmolVLA 450M is —.
Which performs better in benchmarks, MiniMax M3 or SmolVLA 450M?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can MiniMax M3 or SmolVLA 450M be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: supported. MiniMax M3 is open weight; SmolVLA 450M is open weight.
Can MiniMax M3 and SmolVLA 450M understand images?+
MiniMax M3 is documented with image input; SmolVLA 450M is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, MiniMax M3 or SmolVLA 450M?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. MiniMax M3 is — and SmolVLA 450M is —.
Do MiniMax M3 and SmolVLA 450M support reasoning and tool use?+
MiniMax M3: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. SmolVLA 450M: image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, MiniMax M3 or SmolVLA 450M?+
MiniMax M3 has 5 sourced provider routes; SmolVLA 450M has 0, so MiniMax M3 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, MiniMax M3 or SmolVLA 450M?+
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.