Model comparison

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus vs Kimi K3

Kimi K3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 43.1 on the Noometry Index. DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus costs 13× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 15 shared benchmarks.

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus DeepSeek

43.1

Rank #97 Confirmed

Kimi K3 Moonshot AI

59.5

Rank #15 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 15 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus scores higher in 0 categories and Kimi K3 in 7 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in reasoning, where Kimi K3 leads 63.0 to 26.4.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is LMCA: 28.6% for DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus and 52.7% for Kimi K3.
  • DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus is cheaper at $0.27 / $1 per million input/output tokens, against $3 / $15 for Kimi K3.
  • Kimi K3 accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 164K.

Side by side

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus and Kimi K3 specifications
DeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
ProviderDeepSeekMoonshot AI
Noometry Index43.159.5
Released2025-09-222026-07-16
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window164K1.05M
Max output147K1.05M
Input $ / M tokens$0.27$3
Output $ / M tokens$1$15
Results tracked1653

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Category by category

Coding Kimi K3 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 42.0 (#113), Kimi K3: 61.0 (#10)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
SciCode40.6%59.5%
LMArena Coding14261508
ALE-Bench745.171,524
DeepSWE—68.5%
FrontierCode—44.2%
LMArena WebDev—1654
FrontierSWE—25.9%
WeirdML—82.6%

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: —, Kimi K3: 41.8 (#20)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
APEX-Agents—50.6%
τ²-bench Banking—37.1%
PostTrainBench—32%
GBAEval—48.3%
GDP.pdf—19%
Vending-Bench 2—5,165

Reasoning Kimi K3 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 26.4 (#133), Kimi K3: 63.0 (#17)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
CritPt1.7%23.4%
LMArena Hard Prompts14261496
DTBench81.3%91.2%
LMCA28.6%52.7%
ARC-AGI-2—60.4%
SimpleBench—60.7%
Kagi LLM Benchmark57.4%—
NYT Connections (extended)—93.6%
ARC-AGI-1—94.5%
Chess Puzzles—39%
Mystery Game Puzzles—26%
Surface Evolver Bench—95%
Epoch Capabilities Index—157.45
ForecastBench—61.1

Math Kimi K3 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 38.5 (#137), Kimi K3: 74.2 (#16)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
LMArena Math14021491
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)—72.2%
FrontierMath Tier 4—39%
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions—87.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025—97.2%
ProofBench—87%

Knowledge Not comparable

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: —, Kimi K3: 63.2 (#21)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
GPQA Diamond—93.1%
SimpleQA Verified—50.6%
LMArena Expert—1521

Multimodal Not comparable

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: —, Kimi K3: 37.8 (#70)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
Blueprint-Bench 2—29.5%
Furniture Assembly—34.2%

Multilingual Kimi K3 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 52.1 (#92), Kimi K3: 56.3 (#21)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
LMArena Non-English14071466
LMArena Russian14361482
LMArena Chinese—1529
LMArena French—1491
LMArena German—1488
LMArena Japanese—1487
LMArena Korean—1458
LMArena Spanish—1472

Instruction Following Kimi K3 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 74.0 (#106), Kimi K3: 77.7 (#14)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
LMArena Instruction Following14041483

Long Context Kimi K3 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 43.4 (#97), Kimi K3: 45.8 (#29)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
LMArena Longer Query14211494

Writing & Preference Kimi K3 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus: 61.0 (#92), Kimi K3: 76.6 (#4)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1-TerminusKimi K3
LMArena Text14191476
LMArena Creative Writing14031454
LMArena Multi-Turn14111488
EQ-Bench Creative Writing—2082
EQ-Bench 4—1339

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus better than Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 43.1 on the Noometry Index. DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus costs 13× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus or Kimi K3?

DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus is cheaper. It lists at $0.27 per million input tokens and $1 per million output tokens; Kimi K3 lists at $3 and $15.

Is DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus or Kimi K3 better for coding?

Kimi K3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 61.0 versus 42.0 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Kimi K3 does, with 1.05M tokens against 164K.

How many benchmarks do DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus and Kimi K3 share?

15 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek-V3.1-Terminus has 16 scored results on Noometry and Kimi K3 has 53.

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