Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

DeepSeek Coder V2 vs Kimi K3 benchmark

Name: DeepSeek Coder V2 vs Kimi K3 AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares DeepSeek Coder V2 (DeepSeek) and Kimi K3 (Moonshot) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, Kimi K3 is ahead by 163 points (1,528 vs 1,365; seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, Kimi K3 resolves 73.8% versus 60.5% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). DeepSeek Coder V2 streams faster (75 tok/s) while DeepSeek Coder V2 is the cheaper output token ($0.28/1M). 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.

Share Analysis:

WhatsApp Telegram X / Post LinkedIn Reddit

DeepSeek

DeepSeek Coder V2

DeepSeek open-weight Mixture-of-Experts coding model supporting 338 programming languages and 128k context.

Elo 1,365$0.28/1M 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

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Instant pairwise benchmark recalculation across 400+ LLMs

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.

DeepSeek Coder V2 (3)vsKimi K3 (6)

DeepSeek Coder V2: 3W (33%)Overall: Kimi K3Kimi K3: 6W (67%)

← DeepSeek Coder V21 tiesKimi K3 →

Kimi K3 (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,365vs1,528

Coding Elo

1,442vs1,535

SWE-bench

60.5%vs73.8%

LiveBench

58.6%vs69.5%

GPQA Diamond

70.2%vs88.4%

DeepSeek Coder V2: 0WKimi K3: 5W

DeepSeek Coder V2 (1/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

75 tok/svs68 tok/s

Time to first token

290 msvs290 ms

DeepSeek Coder V2: 1WKimi K3: 0W

DeepSeek Coder V2 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$0.28/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$0.14/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

128kvs1M

DeepSeek Coder V2: 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 AdvantageKimi K3 4/6

Preference Elo

Kimi K3

163 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

DeepSeek Coder V2

7 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

DeepSeek Coder V2

$14.72/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

1,365

EloHigh is better

1,528+12%

Code Elo

High is better

1,442

Code EloHigh is better

1,535+6%

LiveBench

High is better

58.6%

LiveBenchHigh is better

69.5%+19%

SWE-bench

High is better

60.5%

SWE-benchHigh is better

73.8%+22%

GPQA

High is better

70.2%

GPQAHigh is better

88.4%+26%

TTFT

Low is better

290 ms

TTFTLow is better

290 ms

Speed

High is better

+10%75 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

68 tok/s

In $

Low is better

+2043%$0.14/1M

In $Low is better

$3/1M

Out $

Low is better

+5257%$0.28/1M

Out $Low is better

$15/1M

Context

High is better

128k

ContextHigh is better

1M+719%

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

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

Save up to 97% with DeepSeek Coder V2

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

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

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

DeepSeek Coder V2$9.10 / mo

In: $4.90Out: $4.20

Kimi K3$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

Estimated Cost Delta

DeepSeek Coder V2 is estimated to save $320.90/month ($3,851/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
Kimi K3:Pick Kimi K3 when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
DeepSeek Coder V2:Pick DeepSeek Coder V2 when you are optimizing output cost.
3
DeepSeek Coder V2:Pick DeepSeek Coder V2 when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K3

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatDeepSeek Coder V2

Lower output list price ($0.28/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIDeepSeek Coder V2

Lower TTFT (290 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionKimi K3

Kimi K3 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Kimi K3	Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chat	DeepSeek Coder V2	Lower output list price ($0.28/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	DeepSeek Coder V2	Lower TTFT (290 ms).
Long-document RAG	Kimi K3	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Kimi K3	Kimi K3 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

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.

Community Sentiment

Cast Your Matchup Vote

0 total votes

Community Discussions (0)

No comments posted on this matchup yet. Be the first to share an evaluation note!

Share card

The real PNG is generated at /compare/deepseek-coder-v2-vs-kimi-k3/opengraph-image for crawlers.

PNG

CompareLLM Matrix

Verified head-to-head card

LIVE

DeepSeek

DeepSeek Coder V2

Elo 1,365

LiveBench58.6%

SWE-bench60.5%

Speed75 tok/s

Output cost$0.28/1M

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, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Kimi K3?: Kimi K3 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,528). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Kimi K3?: Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 60.5%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: DeepSeek Coder V2 output tokens are $0.28/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Kimi K3?: DeepSeek Coder V2 has the lower time-to-first-token (290 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 128k.
Can I self-host either model?: DeepSeek Coder V2 is marked open-weights in our catalog. The other side is a closed API. Check the provider license before you ship weights.
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. DeepSeek Coder V2 and Kimi K3 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All DeepSeek Coder V2 matchups →|All Kimi K3 matchups →

DeepSeek Coder V2 vs DeepSeek V3 (next deepseek)Kimi K3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.5 (previous kimi)DeepSeek V4 Flash vs Kimi K3 DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Kimi K3 DeepSeek R1 vs DeepSeek Coder V2 Kimi Chat 1.5 vs DeepSeek Coder V2

DeepSeek Coder V2 vs Kimi K3 benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

DeepSeek Coder V2 (3)vsKimi K3 (6)

DeepSeek Coder V2: 3W (33%)Overall: Kimi K3Kimi K3: 6W (67%)

← DeepSeek Coder V21 tiesKimi K3 →

Kimi K3 (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,365vs1,528

Coding Elo

1,442vs1,535

SWE-bench

60.5%vs73.8%

LiveBench

58.6%vs69.5%

GPQA Diamond

70.2%vs88.4%

DeepSeek Coder V2: 0WKimi K3: 5W

DeepSeek Coder V2 (1/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

75 tok/svs68 tok/s

Time to first token

290 msvs290 ms

DeepSeek Coder V2: 1WKimi K3: 0W

DeepSeek Coder V2 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$0.28/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$0.14/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

128kvs1M

DeepSeek Coder V2: 2WKimi K3: 1W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K3

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatDeepSeek Coder V2

Lower output list price ($0.28/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIDeepSeek Coder V2

Lower TTFT (290 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionKimi K3

Kimi K3 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Kimi K3	Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chat	DeepSeek Coder V2	Lower output list price ($0.28/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	DeepSeek Coder V2	Lower TTFT (290 ms).
Long-document RAG	Kimi K3	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Kimi K3	Kimi K3 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,528). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 60.5%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

DeepSeek Coder V2 output tokens are $0.28/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, DeepSeek Coder V2 or Kimi K3?

DeepSeek Coder V2 has the lower time-to-first-token (290 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 128k.

Can I self-host either model?

DeepSeek Coder V2 is marked open-weights in our catalog. The other side is a closed API. Check the provider license before you ship weights.

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. DeepSeek Coder V2 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

Kimi K3

DeepSeek Coder V2

DeepSeek Coder V2

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

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

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

DeepSeek Coder V2

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

Kimi K3

DeepSeek Coder V2

DeepSeek Coder V2

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

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

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

DeepSeek Coder V2

Kimi K3

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons