Current model · MiniMax
MiniMax H3-Image benchmarks, pricing and specs
MiniMax H3-Image is a MiniMax model released on November 11, 2026 that takes text and image input and produces image. It costs $2.30 per 1M input tokens. It scores 1197 Elo on Arena Text-to-Image, #9 of 11 current models (Arena, measured November 12, 2026).
- Per 1M input tokens
- $2.30Listed today
- Arena Text-to-Image
- 1197 Elo#9 of 11 current models
Data verified November 15, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-15
Specs
Key facts
- Provider
- MiniMax
- Model family
- MiniMax H3
- Release date
- November 11, 2026
- Status
- Current
- Access
- API and open weights
- API model id
- MiniMax-H3-Image
- Context window
- Not reported
- Max output
- Not reported
- Input
- text, image
- Output
- image
- Task families
- image
- Declared capabilities
- image generation, image editing, image to image
Charts
Against every current image model
Where MiniMax H3-Image lands among the current models of its task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where it stands
On Arena Text-to-Image, MiniMax H3-Image ranks #9 of 11 current image models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text-to-Image
#9of 11
1,197 Elo · ahead of 20%
Arena Image Edit
#8of 10
1,359 Elo · ahead of 22%
Price
MiniMax H3-Image pricing
It is the #3 cheapest of 7 current image models priced per 1M input tokens.
Benchmarks
Independent benchmark results
Scores come from independent evaluators that ran the model themselves, pinned to a dated snapshot. Rank is among current models in the same snapshot. MiniMax's own launch figures are listed under strengths with the publisher named, because they are not measured the same way.
| Benchmark | Score | Rank | Measured | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arena Text-to-Image | 1197 Elo | #9 of 11 | November 12, 2026 | Arena · 2026-11-15 |
| Arena Image Edit | 1359 Elo | #8 of 10 | November 12, 2026 | Arena · 2026-11-15 |
Fit
Strengths, cautions and best uses
- Strengths
- MiniMax's open-weight image model, built on its H3 video model: one 33.1B-parameter diffusion transformer generates from text and edits with up to 16 reference images, at about 16 megapixels (4096 x 4096) without an upscaler
- MiniMax says a 4K image takes under 10 seconds, and estimates about $0.022 for a 1K image and $0.069 for a 4K image at $2.30 per 1M text input, $1.50 per 1M image input and $3.80 per 1M image output tokens
- Weights on Hugging Face, distilled to 6 sampling steps, with vLLM and SGLang recipes for NVIDIA and AMD GPUs
- Cautions
- Arena rates it well below GPT Image 2.6 Sunburst: 1197 against 1406 on text-to-image and 1359 against 1476 on image editing (November 12, 2026), on 3,277 to 5,129 votes so far
- The weights' community license excludes the European Union, the United Kingdom, South Korea and the United States, and needs MiniMax's written authorization above $1 million in annual revenue or for any hosted service
- The launch-week 50% discount on 4K images ends on November 17, 2026, and MiniMax publishes no quality benchmarks of its own
- Best for
- High-resolution product and marketing images where cost per image matters
- Teams that want to self-host or fine-tune an image model, where the license's territory rules allow it
From benchmark to production
Building on MiniMax H3-Image?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test it against the alternatives on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the model that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150
Alternatives
Alternatives to MiniMax H3-Image
The closest current image models by price. The cheapest model that scores as well or better is listed first; failing that, the cheapest one within 3% of the benchmark's scale.
On score and price
MiniMax H3-Image beside the 4 alternatives listed below, on Arena Text-to-Image and on price per 1M input tokens. 2 of them cost less and score as well or better.
Arena Text-to-Image
Measured November 12, 2026, higher is better
- MiniMax H3-Image
- 1,197
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image
- 1,249
- Gemini 3 Pro Image
- 1,246
- GPT Image 2.5 Flare
- 1,398
- GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst
- 1,429
Price per 1M input tokens
Listed today, lower is better
- MiniMax H3-Image
- $2.30
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image
- $0.25
- Gemini 3 Pro Image
- $2
- GPT Image 2.5 Flare
- $5
- GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst
- $5
Cheaper, same or higher score
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image
- 89% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.25 vs $2.30
- 52 points higher on Arena Text-to-Image, 1249 vs 1197
- From Google
Gemini 3 Pro Image
- 13% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $2 vs $2.30
- 49 points higher on Arena Text-to-Image, 1246 vs 1197
- From Google
GPT Image 2.5 Flare
- 2.2x the price per 1M input tokens, $5 vs $2.30
- 201 points higher on Arena Text-to-Image, 1398 vs 1197
- From OpenAI
GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst
- 2.2x the price per 1M input tokens, $5 vs $2.30
- 232 points higher on Arena Text-to-Image, 1429 vs 1197
- From OpenAI
Further reading
More on MiniMax H3-Image
FAQ
MiniMax H3-Image FAQ
How much does MiniMax H3-Image cost?
MiniMax H3-Image costs $2.30 per 1M input tokens at the standard tier. It is the #3 cheapest of 7 current image models priced per 1M input tokens. Source: MiniMax, verified November 15, 2026.
How does MiniMax H3-Image score on independent benchmarks?
MiniMax H3-Image scores 1197 Elo on Arena Text-to-Image, #9 of 11 current models (Arena, measured November 12, 2026) and 1359 Elo on Arena Image Edit, #8 of 10 current models (Arena, measured November 12, 2026). These are independent evaluations, not MiniMax's own launch figures.
Is MiniMax H3-Image open source or API only?
MiniMax H3-Image is available both through MiniMax's API and as open weights you can run yourself.
What are the best alternatives to MiniMax H3-Image?
The closest current alternatives by price and measured performance are Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Image (89% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.25 vs $2.30), Gemini 3 Pro Image (13% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $2 vs $2.30), GPT Image 2.5 Flare (2.2x the price per 1M input tokens, $5 vs $2.30) and GPT Image 2.5 Sunburst (2.2x the price per 1M input tokens, $5 vs $2.30).
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What shipped, how it scores on independent benchmarks, what it costs per million tokens and what was deprecated, from the data behind our AI model benchmarks.
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See this week’s briefSources
Sources
- MiniMax H3-Image: Bringing 4K Image Generation into the 10-Second Era · MiniMax · official · verified November 15, 2026
- MiniMax-H3-Image on Hugging Face · MiniMax · official · verified November 15, 2026
- MiniMax API pricing overview · MiniMax · official · verified November 15, 2026
- Arena leaderboard dataset (lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset) · Arena · independent · verified November 15, 2026 · CC-BY-4.0
All 283 sources behind the benchmarks, with their versions, licenses and notes, are in the source catalog.
Cite this page
Van Data Team. "MiniMax H3-Image Benchmarks, Pricing and Specs." AI Model Benchmark Dataset 2026-11-15. https://vandatateam.com/ai-model-benchmarks/minimax-h3-image
Reuse the data: JSON · CSV · or explore every model in the AI model benchmark comparison.
Production evaluation
Deciding whether MiniMax H3-Image fits your workload?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We test the finalists on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- Evaluation cases and acceptance thresholds tied to real work
- Model routing, fallbacks and cost controls