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Van Data Team

text model comparison

Kimi K3 vs Qwen3.8-Max

Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max are both current text models, from Moonshot Kimi and Alibaba Qwen. Qwen3.8-Max is 33% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Kimi K3, $2 vs $3. On Arena Text, Kimi K3 scores 1488 Elo and Qwen3.8-Max 1482 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).

Higher Arena Text
Kimi K31488 Elo against 1482 Elo
Lower price per 1M input tokens
Qwen3.8-Max$2 against $3
Longer context window
Kimi K31.05M tokens against 1M tokens
Newer release
Qwen3.8-MaxAug 2026 against Jul 2026

Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03

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Side by side

Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max, line by line

Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.

FactKimi K3Qwen3.8-Max
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$3$2 (better)
Price per 1M output tokens$15$6 (better)
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text1488 Elo (#9 of 51) (better)1482 Elo (#13 of 51)
Arena WebDev1656 Elo (#13 of 45)1672 Elo (#11 of 45) (better)
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)72.2% (#22 of 42)74.7% (#20 of 42) (better)
GPQA Diamond93.1% (#17 of 41) (better)92.7% (#18 of 41)
SimpleQA Verified50.6% (#20 of 38) (better)45.8% (#24 of 38)
Specs
ProviderMoonshot KimiAlibaba Qwen
Release dateJuly 16, 2026August 2, 2026
AccessAPI and open weightsAPI only
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Max outputNot reported131,072 tokens
Inputtext, imagetext, image, video
Outputtexttext

Scores:Arena · 2026-11-03Epoch AI · 2026-11-03

Open both in the interactive comparison

Charts

Against every current text model

Where Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.

Where each stands

On Arena Text, Kimi K3 ranks #9 and Qwen3.8-Max #13 of 51 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.

Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max among the current text models, one row per benchmark, price and context window.

Independent benchmarks

Arena Text

Kimi K3:#9of 51

1,488 Elo · ahead of 84%

Qwen3.8-Max:#13of 51

1,482 Elo · ahead of 72%

Arena WebDev

Kimi K3:#13of 45

1,656 Elo · ahead of 70%

Qwen3.8-Max:#11of 45

1,672 Elo · ahead of 77%

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

Kimi K3:#22of 42

72.2% · ahead of 49%

Qwen3.8-Max:#20of 42

74.7% · ahead of 54%

GPQA Diamond

Kimi K3:#17of 41

93.1% · ahead of 60%

Qwen3.8-Max:#18of 41

92.7% · ahead of 55%

SimpleQA Verified

Kimi K3:#20of 38

50.6% · ahead of 49%

Qwen3.8-Max:#24of 38

45.8% · ahead of 38%

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

Kimi K3:#42of 52

$3 · cheaper than 20%

Qwen3.8-Max:#29of 52

$2 · cheaper than 24%

Price per 1M output tokens

Kimi K3:#41of 52

$15 · cheaper than 20%

Qwen3.8-Max:#28of 52

$6 · cheaper than 41%

Context window

Kimi K3:#11of 64

1.05M tokens · longer than 67%

Qwen3.8-Max:#26of 64

1M tokens · longer than 22%

Scores fromArena · 2026-11-03Epoch AI · 2026-11-03

Quality against price

Arena Text · measured October 28, 2026

Kimi K3 scores 1,488 at $6; Qwen3.8-Max scores 1,482 at $3 (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 priceArena Text score against price for 43 text models, Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max marked.1,2501,3001,3501,4001,4501,5001,550$0.30$1$3$10MOST ATTRACTIVE QUADRANTMedian price $3Median 1,475Blended price per 1M tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scaleArena Text (Elo)Kimi K3Qwen3.8-Max
Quality against price: the data
Arena Text score against price for 43 text models, Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max marked.
ModelProviderBlended price per 1M tokensArena Text (Elo)
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$41,520
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic$81,509
Muse WonderMeta$81,507
Claude Fable 5Anthropic$201,504
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic$201,504
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle$1.501,496
Muse Spark 1.3Meta$21,495
Claude Opus 5Anthropic$101,492
Kimi K3Moonshot Kimi$61,488
GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$81,485
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle$31,483
GPT-5.5OpenAI$111,482
Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic$101,482
Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba Qwen$31,482
GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI$41,481
GLM-5.3Z.ai$2.151,481
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi MiMo$0.541,480
Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic$41,477
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai$0.241,477
GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$201,476
DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek$0.521,476
GPT-5.4OpenAI$5.631,475
Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle$1.131,473
Grok 4.20xAI$1.561,472
GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI$4.501,467
Grok 4.5xAI$31,465
DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek$1.981,465
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic$41,462
GPT-6 SolOpenAI$41,458
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle$0.851,456
Grok 4.6xAI$31,455
GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI$0.451,453
MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi MiMo$0.181,448
Step 5 PreviewStepFun$1.431,448
Grok 4.3xAI$1.561,442
GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.201,441
Grok 4.7xAI$31,441
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI$1.051,432
Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic$0.201,425
GPT-4.1OpenAI$3.501,415
Solar Pro 4Upstage$0.521,388
GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI$0.701,383
GPT-4.1 nanoOpenAI$0.181,322

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 1.9 times as much as Qwen3.8-Max, at each provider's listed rates.

What Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max cost for the same work, at the rates each provider lists.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    Kimi K3 costs 1.9× as much

    Kimi K3
    $60
    Qwen3.8-Max
    $32
Workload or rateKimi K3Qwen3.8-Max
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$60$32 (better)
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$35.70Not listed
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.30Not listed

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

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Verdict

When to choose each

Kimi K3

Where it leads

  • Higher Arena Text score, 1488 Elo vs 1482 Elo
  • Higher GPQA Diamond score, 93.1% vs 92.7%
  • Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 50.6% vs 45.8%
  • Open weights you can run yourself
  • A cached-input rate, $0.30 per 1M tokens

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
Full Kimi K3 profile

Qwen3.8-Max

Where it leads

  • Lower input and output prices, $2 and $6 vs $3 and $15 per 1M tokens
  • Higher Arena WebDev score, 1672 Elo vs 1656 Elo
  • Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 74.7% vs 72.2%
  • Accepts video input

Best for

  • Output-heavy generation workloads where the $6 per million output rate is the deciding factor
  • Agentic and coding evaluations that need a 1M-token window at mid-tier cost

Watch out for

  • Two releases share the name: the original 2 August 2026 model and the 0902 refresh, a separate id at the same price
  • The recorded rates are the international (Singapore) price; the Global and Beijing listings charge $1.65 input and $4.951 output per 1M tokens
  • Alibaba publishes no fixed cached-input rate for it
Full Qwen3.8-Max profile

From benchmark to production

Building on Kimi K3 or Qwen3.8-Max?

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

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FAQ

Kimi K3 vs Qwen3.8-Max FAQ

Which is cheaper, Kimi K3 or Qwen3.8-Max?

Qwen3.8-Max is 33% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Kimi K3, $2 vs $3. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Kimi K3 costs $60 and Qwen3.8-Max $32 at standard rates.

Do Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max discount cached input?

Kimi K3 lists a cached-input rate of $0.30 per 1M tokens, 90% below its standard input rate. No cached-input rate is listed for Qwen3.8-Max.

Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Kimi K3 or Qwen3.8-Max?

Kimi K3 leads on Arena Text, 1488 Elo to 1482 Elo; Qwen3.8-Max leads on Arena WebDev, 1672 Elo to 1656 Elo; Qwen3.8-Max leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 74.7% to 72.2%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.

Which has the larger context window, Kimi K3 or Qwen3.8-Max?

Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).

How do Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max differ in features?

Kimi K3 takes text and image input; Qwen3.8-Max takes text, image and video.

Can I run Kimi K3 or Qwen3.8-Max myself?

Kimi K3 is released as open weights you can run yourself; Qwen3.8-Max is available through its provider's API only.

Further reading

More on Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max

Articles on Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max

Related comparisons

Production evaluation

Choosing between Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max?

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  • A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
  • Routing between models by cost and difficulty
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