# MiniMax API vs Novita AI

> MiniMax scores 55.2 (C) to Novita AI's 53.5 (D) for llm inference. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-19

MiniMax API scores 55.2 (C) on agent readiness against Novita AI's 53.5 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Novita AI leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth, payments & pricing and maintenance & community. Both do llm inference.

- MiniMax API: grade C, 55.2/100, rank #751 of 1175. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/minimax-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/minimax-api.json
- Novita AI: grade D, 53.5/100, rank #800 of 1175. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/novita-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/novita-ai.json
- Best model APIs and inference for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/inference/index.md
- All 436 models comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/inference/index.md

## Which one, for what

### MiniMax API (C)

Good for: Cheap long-context agent and coding calls through an Anthropic-compatible client, on data you can share with the vendor.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 28
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 62
- Transparency & trust, 64 against 56

Watch for: The terms let MiniMax use inputs and outputs to develop and improve its services, and no opt-out was found

### Novita AI (D)

Good for: Agents that want many open-weight models at per-token prices behind one OpenAI-style key, with keys that can be limited by model, IP and expiry.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 59
- Security & auth, 65 against 30
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 20
- Maintenance & community, 62 against 45

Watch for: No status page or SLA was found on the home page, the docs index or the docs site map. The home page states 99.5% uptime with no supporting document


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | MiniMax API | Novita AI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 28 | MiniMax API +47 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 62 | MiniMax API +20 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 59 | 72 | Novita AI +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 30 | 65 | Novita AI +35 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 35 | Novita AI +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 45 | 62 | Novita AI +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 56 | MiniMax API +8 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **55.2 · C** | **53.5 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | MiniMax API | Novita AI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Model API | Model API |
| Vendor | MiniMax | Novita AI |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.minimax.io` | `https://api.novita.ai/openai` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary API under MiniMax's platform terms. MiniMax-M3 weights are on Hugging Face under the MiniMax community licence | Proprietary service under the Novita AI Terms of Service. The agent skill and the MCP server are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-19 | 2026-09-28 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-08-05 |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-05-13 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |
| Popularity | 493 stars | 6 stars, 1.4k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.8/5 (4) | none |

## Verdicts

**MiniMax API.** M3.1 Flash costs $0.15 in and $0.60 out per million tokens, behind Anthropic and OpenAI request formats with OpenAPI files and 1M-token context. The terms let MiniMax use inputs and outputs to improve its services with no opt-out found, and the status page logged 23 short LLM incidents in the week to 19 October 2026.

**Novita AI.** Per-token prices for about 140 language models are public, and each key can carry an expiry, a model allowlist and a source IP allowlist. No status page, SLA or security.txt was found, the per-model rate limit figures are drawn by script, and both vendor SDK repositories are archived while the docs still point to them.

## Before you call either

### MiniMax API

1. Use the Anthropic-format base URL `https://api.minimax.io/anthropic` for tool calls. The OpenAI-format schema has no `tool_choice` or `response_format`
2. Set `output_config.effort` (or `reasoning_effort`) below `max` for routine calls. M3.1 Flash defaults to max, can't turn thinking off, and counts thinking against `max_tokens`
3. Don't rely on `stop_sequences` or `top_k`. The Anthropic-format endpoint ignores them
4. Back off on 429 and 529 yourself. No Retry-After header is documented
5. Use a pay-as-you-go key for production. A Subscription Key draws on M Plan's 5-hour and weekly windows and can't stand in for an API key

### Novita AI

1. Set the OpenAI client base URL to `https://api.novita.ai/openai` and send the key as `Authorization: Bearer`. Keys start with `sk_`
2. Do not close a connection to stop generation. A request that reached the model is billed in full under status 499, so cap output with `max_tokens`
3. On 429, check whether the code is `RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` or `TOKEN_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` and back off exponentially. No `Retry-After` header is documented
4. Read the changelog for retirement notices before pinning a model id. One retirement in October 2026 came with 11 days' notice
5. Ask the account owner for a key with an expiry, a model access policy and an IP allowlist. Keys are created and deleted only in the console

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, MiniMax API or Novita AI?

MiniMax API scores 55.2 (C) on agent readiness against Novita AI's 53.5 (D), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Novita AI leads on agent ergonomics, security & auth, payments & pricing and maintenance & community.

### Do MiniMax API and Novita AI need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call MiniMax API and Novita AI without installing anything?

Yes. MiniMax API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.minimax.io and Novita AI at https://api.novita.ai/openai.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-api-vs-novita-ai.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/minimax-api-vs-novita-ai.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "minimax-api", "b": "novita-ai"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare minimax-api novita-ai`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/minimax-api.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/novita-ai.json

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