MiniMax M3: Reddit: Hands-on Measurement of Token Plan Caching and Effective Throughput for MiniMax-M3

Summary

This post does not evaluate M3’s intelligence; it measures the Token Plan’s “effective throughput” in an agentic coding scenario. Using OpenCode, OpenRouter BYOK, and cache-hit rates, the author observed that the PAYG caching discount as they understood it did not appear to apply to the Token Plan, and that repeatedly reading context quickly consumed the quota. In the comments, an order-of-magnitude estimate under a 90% repeated-context assumption suggested that effective new work could fall from 0.895B to 0.17B, or from 0.17B to 0.032B, depending on how the budget is defined.

Available conclusions

• Do not estimate the amount of agentic coding work that can be completed directly from “1.7B tokens per month.”

• Distinguish fresh input, output, and cached/repeated context, and verify that the specific harness sends cache markers correctly.

• The post points to two potentially conflated issues: the plan’s own billing rules, and a caching bug in an Anthropic-compatible endpoint/harness.

• Before choosing M3, run a small, observable task test and record actual input, cached input, output, and quota changes.

Article text

Original post:

Hey everyone, just wanted to drop a warning here because I just got completely burned by MiniMax's new $20 "Plus" token… This is a necessary excerpt; read the original source for full context.

Original numerical-analysis comment:

Assuming a 90% cache hit rate. Expected (cache works), 1.7B paid budget: - Total throughput affordable: 8.95B - Repetiti… This is a necessary excerpt; read the original source for full context.

The opposing comment must also be retained:

uh.... prompt caching exists. I've had no issues. the problem is that you're using opencode. I'm using pi.dev and have n… This is a necessary excerpt; read the original source for full context.

Limitations

The post and comments conflict, and the test depends on the specific harness, endpoint, and point in time. This article records community testing and the dispute; it does not present “the Token Plan has no caching benefit” as a conclusion confirmed by official documentation.