I switched from Opus 4.6 to Minimax M2.5 (cloud)
IT’S A GAME CHANGER
I was looking for Opus 4.6 alternatives since I kept blowing up the budget with OpenClaw.
I found it, this is it.
Here are my findings:
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IMPORTANT: not sure it will work for everyone, but to me the opportunity cost of not trying it is too big. Make sure to push your whole project before doing this, so you can revert the changes just in case
First,
I asked MiniMax M2.5 to study my entire code base and come up with improvements
Key findings: Opus 4.6 had overbloated the code. One key file that ran all the time was 177k+ lines.
WHAT. That was not true. It was only 4K lines.
First finding: MiniMax 2.5 can’t count
BUT
I had to try it anyway. I asked Minimax to refactor the core pillars in the project. Do some house cleaning. It planned 6 steps including security improvements.
Around 5 minutes later, it finished. The time I used to write this post.
The result: a clean, smoother build. Cheaper. Faster. This thing now FLIES.
AND
Minimax is so much cheaper than Claude. Like, 5 to 10x or something. AND it tells my usage exactly, in %, so I never get surprises of when l run out of computer.
Minimax is great at planning and executing. It just feels leaner, faster, with a comparable output as Claude. Maybe I’ll use Opus 4.6 only in specific occasions. Will keep you posted.
I use Cursor, there are a few steps to add Minimax to it, if anyone is interested, reply below and I’ll add the steps in the replies, took me around 10pm. Best cost-benefit.
PS: that 4K-line file? It did t even touch it. Apparently also has some hallucinations int be reasoning
PS2: MiniMax sucks at frontend. Maybe a skill will help it. Reverting to using Claude for frontend. Any suggestions appreciated