Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K3 benchmark

Name: Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K3 AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Claude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic) and Kimi K3 (Moonshot) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, Claude Sonnet 5 is ahead by 28 points (1,556 vs 1,528; seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, Claude Sonnet 5 resolves 73.8% versus 73.8% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). Claude Sonnet 5 streams faster (118 tok/s) while Claude Sonnet 5 is the cheaper output token ($10/1M). Kimi K3 has the larger context window (1M tokens). Every cell below is a dated snapshot from a named public source — we do not invent missing scores, and we do not run SWE-bench ourselves.

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Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 5

Anthropic workhorse. Official $2/$10 per 1M tokens made permanent on Aug 10 2026.

Elo 1,556$10/1M out

Moonshot

Kimi K3

Moonshot AI frontier flagship reasoning and agent swarm model with 256k context and top-tier SWE-bench coding capability.

Elo 1,528$15/1M out

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Model A

Model B

Quick vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude Sonnet 5 (7)vsKimi K3 (2)

Claude Sonnet 5: 7W (78%)Overall: Claude Sonnet 5Kimi K3: 2W (22%)

← Claude Sonnet 51 tiesKimi K3 →

Claude Sonnet 5 (3/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,556vs1,528

Coding Elo

1,562vs1,535

SWE-bench

73.8%vs73.8%

LiveBench

70.4%vs69.5%

GPQA Diamond

82.8%vs88.4%

Claude Sonnet 5: 3WKimi K3: 1W

Claude Sonnet 5 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

118 tok/svs68 tok/s

Time to first token

175 msvs290 ms

Claude Sonnet 5: 2WKimi K3: 0W

Claude Sonnet 5 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$10/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$2/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

1Mvs1M

Claude Sonnet 5: 2WKimi K3: 1W

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect

Percentile 0–100

Dimensional AdvantageEven 3–3

Preference Elo

Claude Sonnet 5

28 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

Claude Sonnet 5

50 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

Claude Sonnet 5

$5.00/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

+2%1,556

EloHigh is better

1,528

Code Elo

High is better

+2%1,562

Code EloHigh is better

1,535

LiveBench

High is better

+1%70.4%

LiveBenchHigh is better

69.5%

SWE-bench

High is better

73.8%

SWE-benchHigh is better

73.8%

GPQA

High is better

82.8%

GPQAHigh is better

88.4%+7%

TTFT

Low is better

+66%175 ms

TTFTLow is better

290 ms

Speed

High is better

+74%118 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

68 tok/s

In $

Low is better

+50%$2/1M

In $Low is better

$3/1M

Out $

Low is better

+50%$10/1M

Out $Low is better

$15/1M

Context

High is better

ContextHigh is better

1M+5%

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs based on published $/1M tokens.

Save up to 33% with Claude Sonnet 5

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

Claude Sonnet 5$220.00 / mo

In: $70.00Out: $150.00

Kimi K3$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

Estimated Cost Delta

Claude Sonnet 5 is estimated to save $110.00/month ($1,320/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
Claude Sonnet 5:Pick Claude Sonnet 5 when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
Claude Sonnet 5:Pick Claude Sonnet 5 when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.
3
Kimi K3:Pick Kimi K3 for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsClaude Sonnet 5

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatClaude Sonnet 5

Lower output list price ($10/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIClaude Sonnet 5

Lower TTFT (175 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionClaude Sonnet 5

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Sonnet 5).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Claude Sonnet 5	Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chat	Claude Sonnet 5	Lower output list price ($10/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Claude Sonnet 5	Lower TTFT (175 ms).
Long-document RAG	Kimi K3	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Claude Sonnet 5	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Sonnet 5).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

compareAug 10, 2026

Sonnet vs Opus in 2026: same family, different invoice

Usually Sonnet 5 vs Opus 5. Coding delta versus output $/1M. The workhorse question.

priceAug 10, 2026

Claude Sonnet 5 at $2/$10: the 2026 Anthropic workhorse

Aug 10 2026 made the $2/$10 list permanent. Sonnet is the default Claude unless the repo is actually on fire.

launchJun 8, 2026

Kimi K3: Moonshot’s long-context open-weight competitive row

Jun 2026. The Kimi vs GPT hub remaps to the top Moonshot Elo vs top OpenAI Elo.

launchFeb 18, 2026

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the previous workhorse — still a valid vs baseline

Most of Opus 4.5 coding at a mid-tier price. Sonnet 5 replaced it as the buy; 4.5 remains a compare baseline.

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LIVE

Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 5

Elo 1,556

LiveBench70.4%

SWE-bench73.8%

Speed118 tok/s

Output cost$10/1M

Moonshot

Kimi K3

Elo 1,528

LiveBench69.5%

SWE-bench73.8%

Speed68 tok/s

Output cost$15/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?: Claude Sonnet 5 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,556). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?: Claude Sonnet 5 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 73.8%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Claude Sonnet 5 output tokens are $10/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?: Claude Sonnet 5 has the lower time-to-first-token (175 ms vs 290 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?: Kimi K3 accepts 1M tokens versus 1M.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Claude Sonnet 5 matchups →|All Kimi K3 matchups →

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Claude Sonnet 4.5 (previous sonnet)Kimi K3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.5 (previous kimi)Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5 Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude Sonnet 5 Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Kimi K3 Claude Opus 4.8 vs Claude Sonnet 5

Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K3 benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude Sonnet 5 (7)vsKimi K3 (2)

Claude Sonnet 5: 7W (78%)Overall: Claude Sonnet 5Kimi K3: 2W (22%)

← Claude Sonnet 51 tiesKimi K3 →

Claude Sonnet 5 (3/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,556vs1,528

Coding Elo

1,562vs1,535

SWE-bench

73.8%vs73.8%

LiveBench

70.4%vs69.5%

GPQA Diamond

82.8%vs88.4%

Claude Sonnet 5: 3WKimi K3: 1W

Claude Sonnet 5 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

118 tok/svs68 tok/s

Time to first token

175 msvs290 ms

Claude Sonnet 5: 2WKimi K3: 0W

Claude Sonnet 5 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$10/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$2/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

1Mvs1M

Claude Sonnet 5: 2WKimi K3: 1W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsClaude Sonnet 5

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatClaude Sonnet 5

Lower output list price ($10/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIClaude Sonnet 5

Lower TTFT (175 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionClaude Sonnet 5

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Sonnet 5).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Claude Sonnet 5	Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chat	Claude Sonnet 5	Lower output list price ($10/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Claude Sonnet 5	Lower TTFT (175 ms).
Long-document RAG	Kimi K3	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Claude Sonnet 5	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Sonnet 5).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,556). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?

Claude Sonnet 5 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 73.8%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Claude Sonnet 5 output tokens are $10/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K3?

Claude Sonnet 5 has the lower time-to-first-token (175 ms vs 290 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.

Which has the larger context window?

Kimi K3 accepts 1M tokens versus 1M.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K3 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Claude Sonnet 5

Claude Sonnet 5

Claude Sonnet 5

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Sonnet vs Opus in 2026: same family, different invoice

Claude Sonnet 5 at $2/$10: the 2026 Anthropic workhorse

Kimi K3: Moonshot’s long-context open-weight competitive row

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the previous workhorse — still a valid vs baseline

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

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CompareLLM Matrix

Claude Sonnet 5

Kimi K3

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Claude Sonnet 5

Claude Sonnet 5

Claude Sonnet 5

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Sonnet vs Opus in 2026: same family, different invoice

Claude Sonnet 5 at $2/$10: the 2026 Anthropic workhorse

Kimi K3: Moonshot’s long-context open-weight competitive row

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the previous workhorse — still a valid vs baseline

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

Claude Sonnet 5

Kimi K3

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons