Kimi K3 vs Kimi K2.6
Kimi K3 is from Moonshot AI, released July 16, 2026. Kimi K2.6 is from Moonshot AI, released January 20, 2026.
- LMArena Elo1488 vs 1461. Kimi K3 is 1.8% ahead on LMArena Elo.
- Input per 1M$3 vs $0.95. Kimi K2.6 costs 68% less per million input tokens.
- Output per 1M$15 vs $4. Kimi K2.6 costs 73% less per million output tokens.
- Context window1M vs 262k. Kimi K3 takes 282% more context in one request.
Prices are the vendors’ published API rates; Elo is LMArena’s text board. Each figure is dated on its model page.
Interactive Comparison
Loading chart...
$3 / $15 per million tokens | $0.95 / $4 per million tokens | |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | ||
| Developer | Moonshot AI | Moonshot AI |
| Released | Jul 2026 | Jan 2026 |
| Status | GA | — |
| Licence | Open weights (Kimi K3 License) | Open weights (Modified MIT) |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | ||
| Blended $/1M tokensinput × 0.75 + output × 0.25 | $6.000 / 1M tokens | $1.712 / 1M tokens |
| Input price | $3.000 / 1M tokens | $0.950 / 1M tokens |
| Output price | $15.000 / 1M tokens | $4.000 / 1M tokens |
| Cached input | $0.30 / 1M tokens (automatic context-cache hit; $3.00 on a cache miss) | — |
| Batch discount | Not offered | — |
| Free tier | Not offered | — |
| Capacity | ||
| Context window | 1M tokens | 262.1K tokens |
| Max output | 128k tokens (default; max_completion_tokens configurable up to 1M) | — |
| Long-context surcharge | None (flat rate across the 1M window) | — |
| Capability | ||
| Vision in | Yes | — |
| Audio in | No | — |
| Function calling | Yes | — |
| Structured output | Yes | — |
| Extended reasoning | Yes | — |
| Web search | Yes (tool currently being updated by Moonshot; not recommended for near-term use) | — |
| Code execution | Not offered | — |
| Access | ||
| API | Yes | — |
| Chat app | Yes | — |
| Cloud marketplaces | Azure AI Foundry (via Fireworks AI), OpenRouter | — |
| Fine-tuning | Not offered | — |
| Measured quality | ||
| LMArena Elo | 1488 (checked Oct 2026) | 1461 (checked Oct 2026) |
| LMArena rank | Rank 16 | Rank 58 |
| GPQA Diamond | 93 | 91 |
| SWE-bench Verified | — | 77 |
| Elo per dollarLMArena Elo ÷ blended $/1M tokens | 248 | 853 |
