Model comparison

Kimi K3 vs Qwen Max

Kimi K3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index. Qwen Max costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 19 shared benchmarks.

Kimi K3 Moonshot AI

59.5

Rank #15 Confirmed

Qwen Max Alibaba (Qwen)

34.7

Rank #230 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 19 benchmarks with published results for both. Kimi K3 scores higher in 8 categories and Qwen Max in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where Kimi K3 leads 74.2 to 22.3.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025: 97.2% for Kimi K3 and 16.1% for Qwen Max.
  • Qwen Max is cheaper at $1.60 / $6.40 per million input/output tokens, against $3 / $15 for Kimi K3.
  • Kimi K3 accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 33K.
  • Kimi K3 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Kimi K3 and Qwen Max specifications
Kimi K3Qwen Max
ProviderMoonshot AIAlibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index59.534.7
Released2026-07-162024-04-03
WeightsOpenProprietary
Context window1.05M33K
Max output1.05M8K
Input $ / M tokens$3$1.60
Output $ / M tokens$15$6.40
Results tracked5323

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Category by category

Coding Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 61.0 (#10), Qwen Max: 30.7 (#292)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
LMArena Coding15081288
DeepSWE68.5%—
FrontierCode44.2%—
Aider Polyglot—21.8%
LMArena WebDev1654—
FrontierSWE25.9%—
SciCode59.5%—
WeirdML82.6%—
ALE-Bench1,524—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Kimi K3: 41.8 (#20), Qwen Max: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
APEX-Agents50.6%—
τ²-bench Banking37.1%—
PostTrainBench32%—
GBAEval48.3%—
GDP.pdf19%—
Vending-Bench 25,165—

Reasoning Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 63.0 (#17), Qwen Max: 25.1 (#151)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
LMArena Hard Prompts14961269
ARC-AGI-260.4%—
SimpleBench60.7%—
NYT Connections (extended)93.6%—
ARC-AGI-194.5%—
CritPt23.4%—
Chess Puzzles39%—
Mystery Game Puzzles26%—
DTBench91.2%—
LMCA52.7%—
Surface Evolver Bench95%—
Epoch Capabilities Index157.45—
ForecastBench61.1—

Math Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 74.2 (#16), Qwen Max: 22.3 (#276)

Knowledge Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 63.2 (#21), Qwen Max: 30.3 (#228)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
GPQA Diamond93.1%56.1%
LMArena Expert15211248
SimpleQA Verified50.6%—

Multimodal Not comparable

Kimi K3: 37.8 (#70), Qwen Max: —

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
Blueprint-Bench 229.5%—
Furniture Assembly34.2%—

Multilingual Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 56.3 (#21), Qwen Max: 41.8 (#202)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
LMArena Non-English14661263
LMArena Chinese15291254
LMArena French14911330
LMArena German14881254
LMArena Japanese14871205
LMArena Korean14581142
LMArena Russian14821274
LMArena Spanish14721290

Instruction Following Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 77.7 (#14), Qwen Max: 66.5 (#208)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
LMArena Instruction Following14831262

Long Context Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 45.8 (#29), Qwen Max: 39.4 (#180)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
LMArena Longer Query14941288
Fiction.LiveBench—66.7%

Writing & Preference Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 76.6 (#4), Qwen Max: 47.8 (#205)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen Max
LMArena Text14761282
LMArena Creative Writing14541248
LMArena Multi-Turn14881277
EQ-Bench Creative Writing2082—
EQ-Bench 41339—

Frequently asked questions

Is Kimi K3 better than Qwen Max?

Kimi K3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 34.7 on the Noometry Index. Qwen Max costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Kimi K3 or Qwen Max?

Qwen Max is cheaper. It lists at $1.60 per million input tokens and $6.40 per million output tokens; Kimi K3 lists at $3 and $15.

Is Kimi K3 or Qwen Max better for coding?

Kimi K3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 61.0 versus 30.7 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Kimi K3 does, with 1.05M tokens against 33K.

How many benchmarks do Kimi K3 and Qwen Max share?

19 benchmarks have published results for both models. Kimi K3 has 53 scored results on Noometry and Qwen Max has 23.

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