text model comparison
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K3
Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 are both current text models, from Anthropic and Moonshot Kimi. Claude Sonnet 5 is 33% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Kimi K3, $2 vs $3. On Arena Text, Claude Sonnet 5 scores 1461 Elo and Kimi K3 1488 Elo (Arena, measured October 8, 2026). Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).
- Higher Arena Text
- Kimi K31488 Elo against 1461 Elo
- Lower price per 1M input tokens
- Claude Sonnet 5$2 against $3
- Longer context window
- Kimi K31.05M tokens against 1M tokens
- Newer release
- Kimi K3Jul 2026 against Jun 2026
Data verified October 28, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-28
Side by side
Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Claude Sonnet 5 | Kimi K3 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $2 (better) | $3 |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $10 (better) | $15 |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | 1461 Elo (#30 of 49) | 1488 Elo (#8 of 49) (better) |
| GPQA Diamond | 90.5% (#25 of 40) | 93.1% (#15 of 40) (better) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 65.6% (#25 of 40) | 72.2% (#19 of 40) (better) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 33.7% (#29 of 36) | 50.6% (#19 of 36) (better) |
| LiveBench Overall | 74.85 points (#4 of 5) | Not measured |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | Anthropic | Moonshot Kimi |
| Release date | June 30, 2026 | July 16, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API and open weights |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | Not reported |
| Input | text | text, image |
| Output | text | text |
Scores:Arena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12LiveBench · 2026-06-25
Charts
Against every current text model
Where Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
On Arena Text, Claude Sonnet 5 ranks #30 and Kimi K3 #8 of 49 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
Claude Sonnet 5:#30of 49
1,461 Elo · ahead of 40%
Kimi K3:#8of 49
1,488 Elo · ahead of 85%
GPQA Diamond
Claude Sonnet 5:#25of 40
90.5% · ahead of 36%
Kimi K3:#15of 40
93.1% · ahead of 64%
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
Claude Sonnet 5:#25of 40
65.6% · ahead of 38%
Kimi K3:#19of 40
72.2% · ahead of 54%
SimpleQA Verified
Claude Sonnet 5:#29of 36
33.7% · ahead of 20%
Kimi K3:#19of 36
50.6% · ahead of 49%
LiveBench Overall
Claude Sonnet 5:#4of 5
74.9 · ahead of 25%
Kimi K3: Not scored
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
Claude Sonnet 5:#28of 51
$2 · cheaper than 24%
Kimi K3:#41of 51
$3 · cheaper than 20%
Price per 1M output tokens
Claude Sonnet 5:#33of 51
$10 · cheaper than 26%
Kimi K3:#40of 51
$15 · cheaper than 20%
Context window
Claude Sonnet 5:#28of 66
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Kimi K3:#11of 66
1.05M tokens · longer than 65%
Quality against price
Claude Sonnet 5 scores 1,461 at $4; Kimi K3 scores 1,488 at $6 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.
Quality against price: the data
| Model | Provider | Blended price per 1M tokens | Arena Text (Elo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,525 | |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,507 |
| Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,501 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,497 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,494 |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,490 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,488 |
| Gemini 3.7 Flash | $1.50 | 1,486 | |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,484 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,483 |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,482 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,482 | |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,478 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,476 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,475 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,475 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,475 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,466 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,466 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,465 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,461 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,456 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,455 | |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,454 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,452 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,451 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,443 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,443 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $2.06 | 1,429 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,386 |
| GPT-4.1 mini | OpenAI | $0.70 | 1,383 |
| GPT-4.1 nano | OpenAI | $0.18 | 1,322 |
Cost
What each costs
Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.
The same work, priced
For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Kimi K3 costs 1.5 times as much as Claude Sonnet 5, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
Kimi K3 costs 1.5× as much
- Claude Sonnet 5
- $40
- Kimi K3
- $60
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
Kimi K3 costs 1.5× as much
- Claude Sonnet 5
- $23.80
- Kimi K3
- $35.70
| Workload or rate | Claude Sonnet 5 | Kimi K3 |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $40 (better) | $60 |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $23.80 (better) | $35.70 |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.20 (better) | $0.30 |
Verdict
When to choose each
Claude Sonnet 5
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $2 and $10 vs $3 and $15 per 1M tokens
- Cheaper cached input, $0.20 vs $0.30 per 1M tokens
Best for
- Agentic coding evaluations with current introductory API pricing
Watch out for
- The launch price is introductory through 2026-08-31; refresh pricing before evaluating workloads after that date
Kimi K3
Where it leads
- Higher Arena Text score, 1488 Elo vs 1461 Elo
- Higher GPQA Diamond score, 93.1% vs 90.5%
- Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 72.2% vs 65.6%
- Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 50.6% vs 33.7%
- Accepts image input
- Open weights you can run yourself
Best for
- Teams that want a frontier-scale model they can also self-host, with one architecture across both paths
- Long-context work at mid-tier hosted pricing
Watch out for
- Hosted rates match Claude Sonnet 5 exactly at $3 / $15 while offering a larger context window, so the comparison turns on capability rather than price
- Running the open weights shifts cost to infrastructure, which the token rates recorded here do not represent
- Moonshot’s self-reported results place it ahead of Claude Opus 4.8 and GPT-5.5 but behind Claude Fable 5 and GPT-5.6 Sol; none of this was reproduced independently here
From benchmark to production
Building on Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
FAQ
Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K3 FAQ
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?
Claude Sonnet 5 is 33% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Kimi K3, $2 vs $3. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Claude Sonnet 5 costs $40 and Kimi K3 $60 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?
Claude Sonnet 5 charges $0.20 per 1M cached input tokens, 90% below its standard input rate, and Kimi K3 $0.30, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, Claude Sonnet 5 costs $23.80 and Kimi K3 $35.70.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3 leads on Arena Text, 1488 Elo to 1461 Elo; Kimi K3 leads on GPQA Diamond, 93.1% to 90.5%; Kimi K3 leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 72.2% to 65.6%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?
Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).
How do Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 differ in features?
Claude Sonnet 5 takes text input; Kimi K3 takes text and image.
Can I run Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3 myself?
Kimi K3 is released as open weights you can run yourself; Claude Sonnet 5 is available through its provider's API only.
Further reading
More on Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3
Articles on Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3
Related comparisons
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-5.4
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Kimi K3
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6.1 Sol
- GPT-6 Luna vs Kimi K3
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Kimi K3
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs GPT-6 Sol
- Claude Opus 5 vs Kimi K3
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.7
- Claude Opus 4.8 vs Kimi K3
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Grok 4.6
- GPT-5.4 vs Kimi K3
Production evaluation
Choosing between Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty