MiniMax Music3 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5
At a Glance
| Compare |  MiniMax Music3MiniMax | Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence, Cost, and Efficiency | ||
| IntelligenceHigher is better · MM Intelligence v2.5 | UnrankedNot in the 46-model eligible cohort | #36 of 4627.7 score · 2/3 sources · provisional · missing LiveBench · full-core range 18.5–51.8 |
| Pricing and Limits | ||
| Input priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $3.00Anthropic ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 |
| Output priceFrom · USD / 1M tokens | Not reported | $15.00Anthropic ↗ · Sep 3, 2026 |
| Context windowMaximum documented tokens | 5K | 200K |
| Model facts checked | Aug 28, 2026View model evidence → | Sep 3, 2026View model evidence → |
Token prices are the lowest available sourced USD rates; input and output may use different providers. Cost ranking estimates output spend on LiveBench, not a full request bill. Ranking methodology →
Available Benchmarks
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | MiniMax-Music3 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | MiniMax | Anthropic |
| Family | Minimax Music3 | Claude 4 |
| Model | MiniMax-Music3 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| Version | MiniMax-Music3 | Claude Sonnet 4.5 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | 2026-08-13 | 2025-09-29 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Unknown | 2025-01-01 |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Audio | Text |
| Context window | 5K | 200K |
| Total parameters | 2.4B | Unknown |
| Active parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| License | Unknown | Unknown |
| Open weights | Yes | No |
| API available | Unknown | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | No |
| Provider access | Unknown | Anthropic (Standard) |
| Capabilities | generation | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools |
MiniMax Music3 Capabilities
Claude Sonnet 4.5 Capabilities
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|---|---|---|---|
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MiniMax-Music3MiniMax | vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peers |
MiniMax-Music3MiniMax | vs |  Qwen3.8-MaxQwen | cross-developer peers |
MiniMax-Music3MiniMax | vs |  Kimi-K3Moonshot AI | cross-developer peers |
MiniMax-M3MiniMax | vs | MiniMax-Music3MiniMax | family variants |
MiniMax-Music3MiniMax | vs |  GLM-5.3Z.ai | cross-developer peers |
MiniMax-Music3MiniMax | vs |  Hy4 previewTencent | cross-developer peers |
MiniMax-Music3MiniMax | vs | Seed 2.1 ProByteDance Seed | cross-developer peers |
MiniMax-Music3MiniMax | vs |  Mistral Large 3Mistral AI | cross-developer peers |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
MiniMax Music3 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 FAQs
Is MiniMax Music3 or Claude Sonnet 4.5 better for coding?+
This comparison does not currently contain a protocol-matched coding benchmark for both MiniMax Music3 and Claude Sonnet 4.5, so Model Markets cannot name a coding leader from pricing, context size, or capability labels alone.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax Music3 or Claude Sonnet 4.5?+
Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a directly sourced input price: $3.00 per million tokens. Only Claude Sonnet 4.5 has a directly sourced output price: $15.00 per million tokens.
Which has a larger context window, MiniMax Music3 or Claude Sonnet 4.5?+
Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the larger sourced context window. MiniMax Music3 supports 5K and Claude Sonnet 4.5 supports 200K.
Which performs better in benchmarks, MiniMax Music3 or Claude Sonnet 4.5?+
There is no overall benchmark winner: At least two independently verified, protocol-matched benchmarks are required for an overall winner.
Can MiniMax Music3 or Claude Sonnet 4.5 be self-hosted?+
MiniMax Music3 is the only model in this pair currently marked as self-hostable. MiniMax Music3 is open weight; Claude Sonnet 4.5 is not marked open weight.
Can MiniMax Music3 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 understand images?+
MiniMax Music3 is not documented with image input; Claude Sonnet 4.5 is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, MiniMax Music3 or Claude Sonnet 4.5?+
Neither has a larger sourced maximum output. MiniMax Music3 is — and Claude Sonnet 4.5 is 64K.
Do MiniMax Music3 and Claude Sonnet 4.5 support reasoning and tool use?+
MiniMax Music3: none of these features are definitively sourced. Claude Sonnet 4.5: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, MiniMax Music3 or Claude Sonnet 4.5?+
MiniMax Music3 has 0 sourced provider routes; Claude Sonnet 4.5 has 1, so Claude Sonnet 4.5 has broader tracked availability.
Which offers better value, MiniMax Music3 or Claude Sonnet 4.5?+
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.