AI image model comparison

MiniMax H3 Image vs GPT Image 2.5

MiniMax H3 Image is MiniMax's open-weights image model, released on November 10, 2026, and Arena has not ranked it yet. On Mage it renders larger, up to 4K against 2K, and takes up to 16 input images against 15. GPT Image 2.5 Flare ranks third on Arena's text-to-image board and second for text rendering, starts at fewer Gems, and runs unlimited from the Basic plan on Mage.

Try MiniMax H3 Image Try GPT Image 2.5 Flare

MiniMax H3 ImageAn ultra-wide 21:9 landscape at 4K
GPT Image 2.5A K-drama style poster with its title lettered in English and Korean

Side by side

Prices, plans, resolutions, ratios, and reference limits are Mage's own, for the model compared. Makers, release dates, search grounding, and watermarks are what each maker publishes. Arena ranks come from its text-to-image and text-rendering and image-edit boards of November 7, 2026. Arena ranks each open-weights model as Arena runs it, not as Mage hosts it. "Not ranked" means the board does not list the version Mage runs.

	MiniMax H3 Image	GPT Image 2.5
Made by	MiniMax Source	OpenAI Source
Where it runs	Open weights, hosted on Mage's GPUs	Run by OpenAI, reached through Mage
Released	November 10, 2026 Source	September 8, 2026 Source
Price on Mage, from	15 Gems ($0.015) per image	9 Gems ($0.009) per image
Unlimited on Mage from	Pro	Basic
Top resolution on Mage	4K	2K
Aspect ratios on Mage	21:9, 16:9, 3:2, 5:4, 1:1, 4:5, 2:3, 9:16, 9:21	21:9, 16:9, 3:2, 5:4, 1:1, 4:5, 2:3, 9:16, 9:21
Reference images on Mage, up to	16	15
Search grounding	None documented Source	None documented Source
Arena text-to-image	Not ranked Source	#3 of 84 (preliminary) Source
Arena text rendering	Not ranked Source	#2 of 84 (preliminary) Source
Arena image edit	Not ranked Source	#2 of 63 (preliminary) Source
Watermark	None stated Source	C2PA metadata and an invisible watermark Source

Last checked November 2026

Which should you use?

Choose MiniMax H3 Image for

4K images rendered directly, with no upscaler
Edits that combine up to 16 reference images
Photorealism without the usual AI look, which MiniMax built it for

Choose GPT Image 2.5 for

A model with independent rankings: it is on every Arena board we checked
Up to 15 reference images, with people in them kept recognizable
A quality setting for every job, from quick drafts to its most detailed renders
Unlimited images from the Basic plan

Image quality

Arena's text-to-image, text-rendering, and image-edit boards of November 7, 2026, do not list MiniMax H3 Image yet, so there are no blind votes to set against GPT Image 2.5's. There, GPT Image 2.5 Flare ranks third of 84 for text-to-image and second of 63 for image editing, on scores still marked preliminary.

MiniMax released MiniMax H3 Image on November 10, 2026 and says it goes beyond the familiar "AI look", with intricate detail and lifelike realism. It also calls its instruction following the strongest among open-source models. Both are the maker's own claims, not independent votes. OpenAI positions GPT Image 2.5 Flare as its default model for most work.

Text in images

MiniMax's showcase for MiniMax H3 Image includes text with reasoning behind it: logic puzzles in Chinese and in English, worked through and solved on the board. Arena's text-rendering board does not list MiniMax H3 Image yet, so there is no independent score for its lettering. GPT Image 2.5 Flare ranks second on Arena's text-rendering board, and OpenAI notes that precise text placement can still struggle on GPT Image 2.5.

Edits and reference images

MiniMax H3 Image makes and edits images in the same model, and on Mage it takes up to 16 input images at once. MiniMax's own showcase composes an empty room and a set of furniture pieces, each its own reference image, into one furnished living room, and turns an untextured grey render of a scene into a photographic film still.

GPT Image 2.5 takes up to 15 reference images on Mage and keeps their subjects recognizable.

Resolution and shape

MiniMax built MiniMax H3 Image to render its full size directly, with no upscaler, at about the same pixel count in every aspect ratio. On Mage that full size is 4K, and 2K is there for quicker drafts.

GPT Image 2.5 renders up to 2K. Both offer the same 9 aspect ratios on Mage, from 9:21 to 21:9.

Price on Mage

MiniMax H3 Image starts at 15 Gems (about $0.015) per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Pro plan. GPT Image 2.5 starts at 9 Gems (about $0.009) per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Basic plan.

MiniMax H3 Image's starting price and unlimited plan are for 2K: 4K images cost more Gems and run unlimited from a higher plan, and each input image you attach adds to the price. GPT Image 2.5's price rises with its quality setting: its starting price and unlimited plans are for its quickest setting, and its most detailed settings cost many times more Gems.

A little more clarity

Questions

Is MiniMax H3 Image better than GPT Image 2.5?

There is no independent vote yet: Arena has not ranked MiniMax H3 Image. On Mage it renders larger, up to 4K, and takes more input images, and MiniMax built it for photorealism and close instruction following. GPT Image 2.5 Flare ranks third on Arena's text-to-image board, starts at fewer Gems, and runs unlimited from the Basic plan on Mage. Run the same prompt on both and keep the better image.

Is MiniMax H3 Image on Arena?

Not yet. Arena's text-to-image, text-rendering, and image-edit boards of November 7, 2026, do not list MiniMax H3 Image, which MiniMax released on November 10, 2026. GPT Image 2.5 is on each of them.

Which one is open weights?

MiniMax H3 Image. MiniMax publishes its weights on Hugging Face under the MiniMax-H3-Image Community License Agreement, and Mage runs them on its own GPUs, so there is nothing to install or rent. GPT Image 2.5 is closed: it runs on OpenAI's servers, reached through Mage.

Which costs less on Mage?

GPT Image 2.5 starts at 9 Gems (about $0.009) per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Basic plan, at its quickest quality setting; its higher settings cost more. MiniMax H3 Image starts at 15 Gems (about $0.015) per image on Mage and runs unlimited from the Pro plan, at 2K.

Can I use both on Mage?

Yes. Both run in the same prompt box on Mage, on the same Gems and plans, and through the Mage API and the Mage MCP server for Claude and ChatGPT, so you can try a prompt on each and keep the better image.

Try MiniMax H3 Image and GPT Image 2.5 on one prompt

Run the same prompt on both in Mage's prompt box and keep the better image. New accounts get 300 free Gems.

Try MiniMax H3 Image