Choose AionLabs: Aion-1.0 if…
No advantage on the data we track — pick it for provider preference or output quality on your own prompts.
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 vs MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free)
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) comes out ahead on the data we track: 9 advantages and none for AionLabs: Aion-1.0.
Key numbers
| Spec | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Aion Labs | Minimax |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $4.00 | $0 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $8.00 | $0 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $5.00 | $0 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 10% | 90% |
| Context window | 131K tokens (~197 pages) | 1.0M tokens (~1,573 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 23% | 81% |
| Max output per response | 33K tokens (~24,600 words) | 944K tokens (~707,800 words) |
| Input types | text | text, image, video |
| Output types | text | text |
| Free variant | No | Yes |
| Listed since | 2025-02-04 | 2026-05-31 |
What it costs for real workloads
Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.
| Workload (per month) | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $460 | $0 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) saves $460 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $560 | $0 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) saves $560 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens) | $576 | $0 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) saves $576 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $368 | $0 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) saves $368 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $208 | $0 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) saves $208 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | AionLabs: Aion-1.0 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) | What it lets you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool / function calling | — | ✓ Yes | call your APIs and run agent loops |
| Structured output (JSON schema) | — | ✓ Yes | return JSON that validates against your schema |
| Reasoning / thinking mode | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems |
| Image input | — | ✓ Yes | read screenshots, charts and scanned pages |
| Audio input | — | — | take speech or audio directly |
| File / PDF input | — | — | accept documents without your own parsing step |
| Image output | — | — | generate images, not just text |
| Built-in web search | — | — | answer from live web results |
| Seed (reproducible sampling) | — | ✓ Yes | repeat a generation for tests and evals |
| Log-probabilities | — | — | read token confidence for classification and scoring |
From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.
Price history
- AionLabs: Aion-1.0: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-03-10.
- MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free): price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-08-26.
Which should you choose?
Choose MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) if…
- cost matters at scale — it is 100% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($0 vs $460 a month for 50,000 support chats)
- you need to fit long inputs in one request — 1.0M tokens is roughly 1,573 pages, against 197
- you need tool / function calling — to call your APIs and run agent loops; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you need structured output (JSON schema) — to return JSON that validates against your schema; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you need image input — to read screenshots, charts and scanned pages; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 does not advertise it
- you generate long outputs in one go — up to 944K tokens (about 707,800 words) per response
- you want to prototype at zero cost — a free variant is listed
- you want the newer model — released 2026-05-31, 16 months after the other
Frequently asked questions
Is AionLabs: Aion-1.0 better than MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free)?
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) comes out ahead on the data we track: 9 advantages and none for AionLabs: Aion-1.0.
Which is cheaper, AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free)?
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) is cheaper: $0 vs $5.00 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 100% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $0 against $460.
How much do AionLabs: Aion-1.0 and MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) cost per million tokens?
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 costs $4.00 per 1M input tokens and $8.00 per 1M output tokens; MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) costs $0 input and $0 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free)?
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free): 1.0M tokens, about 1,573 pages, against 131K (about 197 pages) for AionLabs: Aion-1.0.
Do AionLabs: Aion-1.0 and MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — AionLabs: Aion-1.0: not advertised, MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free): yes. JSON-schema structured output — AionLabs: Aion-1.0: not advertised, MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free): yes.
Can AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) read images?
Only MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) accepts image input; AionLabs: Aion-1.0 is text-only for input.
Is AionLabs: Aion-1.0 or MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) free to use?
MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) has a free variant (minimax/minimax-m3:free). Free variants usually carry tighter rate limits.
What is the maximum output length of AionLabs: Aion-1.0 and MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free)?
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 can write up to 33K tokens (about 24,600 words) per response; MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) up to 944K (about 707,800 words).
When were AionLabs: Aion-1.0 and MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) released?
AionLabs: Aion-1.0 was listed on 2025-02-04; MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) on 2026-05-31.
About the two models
AionLabs: Aion-1.0
Aion-1.0 is a multi-model system designed for high performance across various tasks, including reasoning and coding. It is built on DeepSeek-R1, augmented with additional models and techniques such as Tree of Thoughts (ToT) and Mixture of Experts (MoE). It is Aion Lab's most powerful reasoning model.
Full AionLabs: Aion-1.0 specs →MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free)
MiniMax-M3 is a multimodal foundation model from MiniMax. It supports text, image, and video inputs with text output, a 1M-token context window, and is suited for long-horizon agentic work, coding,...
Full MiniMax: MiniMax M3 (free) specs →