text model comparison
Gemini 4 Carbon vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
Gemini 4 Carbon and Kimi K3.1 Pro are both current text models, from Google and Moonshot Kimi. Both cost $2 per 1M input tokens. On Arena WebDev, Gemini 4 Carbon scores 1768 Elo and Kimi K3.1 Pro 1688 Elo (Arena, measured November 10, 2026). Both accept 1,048,576 tokens of context.
- Higher Arena WebDev
- Gemini 4 Carbon1768 Elo against 1688 Elo
- Newer release
- Gemini 4 CarbonOct 28, 2026 against Oct 23, 2026
Data verified November 11, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-11
Side by side
Gemini 4 Carbon and Kimi K3.1 Pro, 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 | Gemini 4 Carbon | Kimi K3.1 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $2 | $2 |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $10 | $10 |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena WebDev | 1768 Elo (#4 of 44) (better) | 1688 Elo (#7 of 44) |
| GPQA Diamond | 96.5% (#1 of 40) (better) | 94.2% (#10 of 40) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 90.5% (#6 of 39) (better) | 78.2% (#17 of 39) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 77.7% (#2 of 36) (better) | 62.2% (#13 of 36) |
| Arena Text | 1526 Elo (#1 of 48) | Not measured |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | Moonshot Kimi | |
| Release date | October 28, 2026 | October 23, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API and open weights |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Input | text, image, audio, video | text, image, video |
| Output | text | text |
Charts
Against every current text model
Where Gemini 4 Carbon and Kimi K3.1 Pro land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
On Arena WebDev, Gemini 4 Carbon ranks #4 and Kimi K3.1 Pro #7 of 44 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
Gemini 4 Carbon:#1of 48
1,526 Elo · ahead of 100%
Kimi K3.1 Pro: Not scored
Arena WebDev
Gemini 4 Carbon:#4of 44
1,768 Elo · ahead of 93%
Kimi K3.1 Pro:#7of 44
1,688 Elo · ahead of 86%
GPQA Diamond
Gemini 4 Carbon:#1of 40
96.5% · ahead of 100%
Kimi K3.1 Pro:#10of 40
94.2% · ahead of 77%
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
Gemini 4 Carbon:#6of 39
90.5% · ahead of 87%
Kimi K3.1 Pro:#17of 39
78.2% · ahead of 58%
SimpleQA Verified
Gemini 4 Carbon:#2of 36
77.7% · ahead of 97%
Kimi K3.1 Pro:#13of 36
62.2% · ahead of 66%
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
Gemini 4 Carbon:#33of 57
$2 · cheaper than 23%
Kimi K3.1 Pro:#33of 57
$2 · cheaper than 23%
Price per 1M output tokens
Gemini 4 Carbon:#38of 57
$10 · cheaper than 25%
Kimi K3.1 Pro:#38of 57
$10 · cheaper than 25%
Context window
Gemini 4 Carbon:#12of 67
1.05M tokens · longer than 64%
Kimi K3.1 Pro:#12of 67
1.05M tokens · longer than 64%
Quality against price
Gemini 4 Carbon scores 1,526 at $4 (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 Carbon | $4 | 1,526 | |
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,522 | |
| Muse Wonder | Meta | $8 | 1,511 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,506 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,497 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,496 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,487 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,484 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,483 | |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,483 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,482 |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,475 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,474 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,474 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,468 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,466 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,464 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,457 |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,456 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,455 | |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,453 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,448 |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | $1.43 | 1,448 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,442 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,441 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $1.05 | 1,423 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | $0.20 | 1,422 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Inkling 2 Small | Thinking Machines Lab | $0.47 | 1,412 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,387 |
| 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
At each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
The same price
- Gemini 4 Carbon
- $40
- Kimi K3.1 Pro
- $40
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
Kimi K3.1 Pro costs 1.0× as much
- Gemini 4 Carbon
- $22.90
- Kimi K3.1 Pro
- $23.80
| Workload or rate | Gemini 4 Carbon | Kimi K3.1 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $40 | $40 |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $22.90 (better) | $23.80 |
| The same, through the batch API | $20 | Not listed |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.10 (better) | $0.20 |
| 1M input tokens, 5-minute cache write | Not listed | $2 |
| 1M input tokens, 1-hour cache write | Not listed | $4 |
| 1M input tokens, batch | $1 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, batch | $5 | Not listed |
| 1M input tokens, Highspeed endpoint | Not listed | $4 |
| 1M output tokens, Highspeed endpoint | Not listed | $20 |
Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.
Launch price $100, regular price $150
Verdict
When to choose each
Gemini 4 Carbon
Where it leads
- Higher Arena WebDev score, 1768 Elo vs 1688 Elo
- Higher GPQA Diamond score, 96.5% vs 94.2%
- Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 90.5% vs 78.2%
- Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 77.7% vs 62.2%
- Accepts audio input
- Cheaper cached input, $0.10 vs $0.20 per 1M tokens
- Batch pricing, $1 input and $5 output per 1M tokens
Best for
- Finding, validating and patching vulnerabilities
- Long-horizon engineering and research over very long inputs
Watch out for
- Generally available in the Gemini API since November 10, 2026, on the paid tier only (there is no free tier), after two weeks open only to cyber defenders in its Fairwind Program
- The $2 and $10 rates are introductory and end on November 30, 2026: from December 1, input, output and cached input double, to $4, $20 and $0.20 per 1M tokens (Batch from $1 and $5 to $2 and $10)
- In Google's own table it trails GPT-6 Astra on FrontierSWE 2 (61.2% against 65.5%) and Claude Opus 5.5 on OSWorld-2.1 (81.5% against 87.2%)
- A request returns at most 65,536 output tokens by default; longer outputs, up to 1,048,576 tokens, need Google long-decode mode
Kimi K3.1 Pro
Where it leads
- Longer responses, up to 1,048,576 vs 65,536 output tokens
- Open weights you can run yourself
Best for
- Long-horizon coding and agent work at mid-tier prices
- Long documents, images and video in one 1M-token context
Watch out for
- Thinking is always on: reasoning effort runs low, high or max, and max is the default
- The Highspeed endpoint, two to three times faster by Moonshot's account, costs twice as much at $4 input and $20 output per 1M tokens
- The weights carry Moonshot's own license: a model-as-a-service business above $20M in yearly revenue needs a separate agreement, and products above 100M monthly users or $20M monthly revenue must display the Kimi K3.1 Pro name
- Self-hosting takes a multi-node GPU cluster: the MXFP4 weights alone are about 1.56 TB
- Arena Text has not rated it yet
From benchmark to production
Building on Gemini 4 Carbon or Kimi K3.1 Pro?
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.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes
FAQ
Gemini 4 Carbon vs Kimi K3.1 Pro FAQ
Which is cheaper, Gemini 4 Carbon or Kimi K3.1 Pro?
Both cost $2 per 1M input tokens. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Gemini 4 Carbon costs $40 and Kimi K3.1 Pro $40 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, Gemini 4 Carbon or Kimi K3.1 Pro?
Gemini 4 Carbon charges $0.10 per 1M cached input tokens, 95% below its standard input rate, and Kimi K3.1 Pro $0.20, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, Gemini 4 Carbon costs $22.90 and Kimi K3.1 Pro $23.80.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Gemini 4 Carbon or Kimi K3.1 Pro?
Gemini 4 Carbon leads on Arena WebDev, 1768 Elo to 1688 Elo; Gemini 4 Carbon leads on GPQA Diamond, 96.5% to 94.2%; Gemini 4 Carbon leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 90.5% to 78.2%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Gemini 4 Carbon or Kimi K3.1 Pro?
Both accept 1,048,576 tokens of context. Kimi K3.1 Pro returns up to 1,048,576 tokens per response, Gemini 4 Carbon 65,536.
How do Gemini 4 Carbon and Kimi K3.1 Pro differ in features?
Gemini 4 Carbon takes text, image, audio and video input; Kimi K3.1 Pro takes text, image and video.
Can I run Gemini 4 Carbon or Kimi K3.1 Pro myself?
Kimi K3.1 Pro is released as open weights you can run yourself; Gemini 4 Carbon is available through its provider's API only.
Further reading
More on Gemini 4 Carbon and Kimi K3.1 Pro
Articles on Gemini 4 Carbon and Kimi K3.1 Pro
- Claude Fable 5.2 vs Opus 5.5, GPT-6 Astra and Mythos 5.2November 10, 2026
- Gemini 4 Carbon: Benchmarks, Price and Who Gets It FirstOctober 29, 2026
- Kimi K3.1 Pro: Benchmarks, Price and Should You Switch?October 25, 2026
- Gemini 4 Pro Leaks: What's Verified and What's HypeOctober 1, 2026
Related comparisons
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Carbon
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 4 Carbon
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Gemini 4 Carbon
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Gemini 4 Carbon
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
- Gemini 4 Carbon vs GPT-6.1 Sol
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
- Gemini 4 Carbon vs GPT-6 Astra
- GLM-5.3 vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
Production evaluation
Choosing between Gemini 4 Carbon and Kimi K3.1 Pro?
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