Kimi K3 vs MiniMax M3
Kimi K3 wins on Overall, Coding, Multimodal. Every numeric field is compared below, with a worked monthly-cost example and a pick rule for each use case.
Verdict at a glance
Choose Kimi K3 if you…
- Best-in-class long text
- Open-source and self-hostable
- Strong codebase understanding
- Fair price
- Best for: Long-document reading, Codebase analysis, Chinese
Choose MiniMax M3 if you…
- Strong agent ability
- Open source
- Low price
- Best for: AI agents, Open source, Chinese
Head-to-head aggregate scores
Scores are 0–100, aggregated from public benchmark information and independently weighted across three leaderboards. Rank is out of 22 tracked models.
Aggregated from public sources and independently weighted; methodology on the Terms page. Scores within 3 points are treated as statistically tied.
Specs & pricing — every field side by side
List API prices in USD per 1M tokens. The highlighted cell is the stronger value/capability on that row.
| Dimension | Kimi K3 | MiniMax M3 | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Moonshot AI (CN) | MiniMax (CN) | Different vendors |
| Released | 2026.06 | 2026.06 | MiniMax M3 is newer |
| Overall (rank) | 77 · #8 | 70 · #13 | Kimi K3 +7 |
| Coding | 71 · #11 | 68 · #13 | Kimi K3 +3 |
| Multimodal | 81 · #10 | 70 · #18 | Kimi K3 +11 |
| Context window | 256K | 1M | MiniMax M3 larger |
| Max output | 64K | 64K | Tie |
| Effective-context | 99 | 90 | Kimi K3 more reliable |
| Input $/1M | $3 | $0.6 | MiniMax M3 cheaper |
| Output $/1M | $15 | $2.4 | MiniMax M3 cheaper |
| Cache discount | custom | none | MiniMax M3 deeper |
| Speed | ~45 tok/s | ~60 tok/s | MiniMax M3 faster |
| TTFT | 0.7s | 0.5s | MiniMax M3 snappier |
| Function calling | 80 | 84 | MiniMax M3 ahead |
| Refusal rate | ~6% | ~7% | Kimi K3 less restrictive |
| English | 75 | 70 | Kimi K3 |
| Chinese | 92 | 88 | Kimi K3 |
| Modalities | text, image | text | different coverage |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes | Both open |
| Fine-tuning | No | Yes | |
| Free tier | Kimi App free; free quota on the open platform | Hailuo AI free; open-platform quota | |
| SOC2 / no-train | no / yes | no / yes | |
| Private deployment | Yes | Yes | Both support it |
Fields drawn from vendor public documentation and the Modelspectra 22-model dataset; speed varies with network, concurrency and prompt length. Verify current pricing before purchase.
Dimension-by-dimension analysis
Reasoning & overall intelligence
Kimi K3 leads the overall aggregate by 7 points (77 vs 70). That is a meaningful, not marginal, edge on hard, multi-step reasoning, while MiniMax M3 remains a strong generalist that is not out of its depth on routine work.
Agentic coding
This is a modest gap: Kimi K3 scores 71 against 68. On multi-file edits, SWE-style tickets and long-horizon agent loops Kimi K3 needs fewer correction turns; MiniMax M3 is still competent for scripts and assisted completion but trails as task complexity rises.
Multimodal
Kimi K3 leads multimodal 81 vs 70. A concrete modality difference: Kimi K3 additionally handles image. Neither emits native video, so the comparison is about parsing images and documents, not generation.
Speed & latency
MiniMax M3 is faster in interactive use: ~60 tok/s with 0.5s TTFT versus ~45 tok/s with 0.7s TTFT (about 1.3× the throughput). For conversational UIs where perceived responsiveness drives retention, that edge is a real product factor even when raw reasoning is lower.
Context: window vs usable recall
Nominal windows are 256K for Kimi K3 and 1M for MiniMax M3. Crucially, the larger nominal window does not win on usable recall: MiniMax M3 advertises 1M but Kimi K3 scores higher on effective-context (99 vs 90), i.e. it actually retains more of what it was given.
Price & total cost
MiniMax M3 is the cheaper API at $0.6/$2.4 versus Kimi K3 at $3/$15 per 1M input/output tokens — list input is about 5.0× lower.
Chinese vs English
English: Kimi K3 75 vs MiniMax M3 70. Chinese: 92 vs 88. For Chinese-language production, Kimi K3 is the stronger pick. Note that non-Chinese models generally require overseas network access for their APIs.
Tool use & ecosystem
Function-calling score: Kimi K3 80 vs MiniMax M3 84, so MiniMax M3 has the edge on structured tool use. Fine-tuning is available from MiniMax M3. Factor in existing SDK/plugin familiarity — switching cost often outweighs a few-point tool-use gap.
Cost worked example — same workload, real token math
Assume a production workload of 100M input + 30M output tokens per month, with 90% of input tokens served from cache. Figures use public list prices.
| Scenario · per month | Kimi K3 | MiniMax M3 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| List priceno cache applied | $750100M in × $3 + 30M out × $15 | $132100M in × $0.6 + 30M out × $2.4 | 5.68×gap |
| With caching90% of inputs cache-hit | $750no published cache discount | $132no published cache discount | 5.68×gap |
Illustrative model; your input/output mix and cache-hit ratio change the result. Prices are list rates before any enterprise agreement.