MiniMax M3 is one of the cheapest capable frontier-class models in 2026 — $0.30 per 1M input tokens on NovAI. The official MiniMax Open Platform, however, onboards through a Chinese phone number and CNY billing, with international access limited and uneven.
MiniMax's console expects a +86 phone for verification and Chinese payment methods for top-ups. Outside China, developers are left without a reliable official channel to the M-series models.
https://aiapi-pro.com/v1.| Model | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|
| minimax-m3 (flagship) | $0.30 | $1.20 |
| minimax-m2.7 | $0.30 | $1.198 |
| minimax-m2.5 | $0.27 | $1.08 |
| minimax-text-01 | $0.14 | $1.10 |
At $0.30 / $1.20, MiniMax M3 undercuts most Western frontier models by an order of magnitude — a strong default for agents and high-volume chat where cost dominates.
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
api_key="nvai-your-key",
base_url="https://aiapi-pro.com/v1"
)
resp = client.chat.completions.create(
model="minimax-m3",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Plan a 5-step data pipeline migration"}]
)
print(resp.choices[0].message.content)Compare every MiniMax tier against OpenRouter pricing on the marketplace.
Access MiniMax M3 from anywhere — email signup, USD billing, $2 free credit.
Yes. Register at NovAI (aiapi-pro.com) with any email - no +86 phone or CNY payment - and call minimax-m3 plus the whole M-series through an OpenAI-compatible endpoint.
On NovAI, minimax-m3 is $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $1.20 per 1M output tokens, with zero platform fee. The $2 welcome credit covers roughly 6.6M input tokens.
Yes. Set base_url to https://aiapi-pro.com/v1 and use your NovAI API key with the official OpenAI SDK or any compatible framework (LangChain, LlamaIndex, Cline, Cursor).