MiniMax H3 vs H3 Max: billable cost of a 10-second clip by resolution

At Sume's recorded list rates, a 10-second minimax-h3 clip bills $0.63 at 480p and $0.75 at 768p, and a 10-second minimax-h3-max clip bills $0.63 at 480p, $1.00 at 768p and $2.00 at 1080p. Sume bills list times 1.25, rounded up to the cent per job. H3 Max's 1080p is a latent refinement from native 768p, not a native 1080p render.

List rates are from Sume's rate card as of 2026-10-02 (fal list prices dated 2026-08-25 for H3 and 2026-09-08 for H3 Max); the multiplier and limits are from the Video Router docs. Confirm the live rates with GET /v1/video-router/models.

What does each combination bill?

The math is seconds times the list rate times 1.25. H3 lists $0.05 per second at 480p and $0.06 at 768p. H3 Max lists $0.05, $0.08 and $0.16 per second at 480p, 768p and 1080p. H3 also adds $0.08 per image after the fifth reference image on reference-to-video.

What do I get for the extra cost at 1080p?

A higher-resolution output, from the same prompt and the same model id. Sume's docs describe H3 Max as the faster 768p variant, with 1080p produced as a latent refinement of the native 768p result. Neither page states image-quality differences, so judge on your own clip.

H3 itself stops at native 480p and 768p. Its 2K and 4K upscales are priced if requested; they are not available on H3 Max.

How should I use the two ids?

Draft at 480p on either, since both bill the same there, then promote the keepers. Use minimax-h3-max when you need 1080p, reference clips or audio references, since it reports image, video and audio reference types. Clip length is 5 to 15 seconds on both.

Budgeting a whole batch works as in Wan 3.0 cost for 100 clips; the explainer what H3 Max is covers the variant.

For a rough budget, multiply the table by your clip count and add a margin for re-renders. A 10-second H3 Max draft at 480p and a 10-second H3 draft at 480p bill the same $0.63, so the decision between ids is about the features you need, not the draft price.