MiniMax M3 vs Sonar
Side-by-side specs, pricing and capabilities. Both models run on Clade under one subscription, so you can switch between them in the same conversation.
MiniMax M3 comes from MiniMax and Sonar from Perplexity. The practical difference for most people is context, price, and which input types each one accepts.
MiniMax M3 holds more in a single conversation — 1M tokens against 128K — which matters for long documents and large codebases.
MiniMax M3 is the cheaper of the two on input tokens at $0.30 / 1M tokens.
| Specification | MiniMax M3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | MiniMax | Perplexity |
| Model ID | MiniMax-M3 | sonar |
| Context window | 1M | 128K |
| Max output | — | — |
| Input price | $0.30 / 1M tokens | $1.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output price | $1.20 / 1M tokens | $1.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — |
| Input types | text, image | text, image, file |
| Output types | text | text |
| Plan | All paid plans | All paid plans |
Which should you use?
Pick MiniMax M3 when…
- You need the larger context window — 1M against 128K.
- Cost matters: input runs at $0.30 / 1M tokens versus $1.00 / 1M tokens.
Related comparisons
Try both on Clade
You do not have to choose. One Clade subscription gives you MiniMax M3, Sonar, and every other model on the platform.