MiniMax 2.1 on local vs api
For the folks that have had success with MiniMax has it been mostly via API key or have folks been able to run the model locally for clawdbot as well? I'm running clawdbot on a M1 Macbook Pro w/ 32gb ram
Solution
The docs show MiniMax M2.1 pricing:
- Input: $15 / 1M tokens
- Output: $60 / 1M tokens
- Cache read: $2 / 1M tokens
- Cache write: $10 / 1M tokens
Rough comparisons:
| Model | Input | Output |
|-------|-------|--------|
| Claude Sonnet 4.5 | ~$3 | ~$15 |
| MiniMax M2.1 | $15 | $60 |
| MiniMax is ~4-5x pricier than Sonnet for output |
What to expect for personal use:
- Light daily chatting (10-20 messages): $5-15/month
- Moderate use (multiple convos, some coding): $30-80/month
- Heavy agentic use (many tools, long contexts): $100+/month
- Input: $15 / 1M tokens
- Output: $60 / 1M tokens
- Cache read: $2 / 1M tokens
- Cache write: $10 / 1M tokens
Rough comparisons:
| Model | Input | Output |
|-------|-------|--------|
| Claude Sonnet 4.5 | ~$3 | ~$15 |
| MiniMax M2.1 | $15 | $60 |
| MiniMax is ~4-5x pricier than Sonnet for output |
What to expect for personal use:
- Light daily chatting (10-20 messages): $5-15/month
- Moderate use (multiple convos, some coding): $30-80/month
- Heavy agentic use (many tools, long contexts): $100+/month
