Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

GPT-5.6 Terra vs Kimi K3 benchmark

Name: GPT-5.6 Terra vs Kimi K3 AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares GPT-5.6 Terra (OpenAI) and Kimi K3 (Moonshot) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, GPT-5.6 Terra is ahead by 20 points (1,548 vs 1,528; seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, Kimi K3 resolves 73.8% versus 70.4% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). GPT-5.6 Terra streams faster (128 tok/s) while GPT-5.6 Terra is the cheaper output token ($6/1M). GPT-5.6 Terra has the larger context window (1.1M 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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OpenAI

GPT-5.6 Terra

OpenAI 5.6 mid tier. Official API $2/$12 per 1M after the Jul 30 2026 price cut.

Elo 1,548$6/1M 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.

GPT-5.6 Terra (7)vsKimi K3 (3)

GPT-5.6 Terra: 7W (70%)Overall: GPT-5.6 TerraKimi K3: 3W (30%)

← GPT-5.6 TerraKimi K3 →

Kimi K3 (3/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,548vs1,528

Coding Elo

1,542vs1,535

SWE-bench

70.4%vs73.8%

LiveBench

69.1%vs69.5%

GPQA Diamond

82%vs88.4%

GPT-5.6 Terra: 2WKimi K3: 3W

GPT-5.6 Terra (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

128 tok/svs68 tok/s

Time to first token

160 msvs290 ms

GPT-5.6 Terra: 2WKimi K3: 0W

GPT-5.6 Terra (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$6/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$1/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

1.1Mvs1M

GPT-5.6 Terra: 3WKimi K3: 0W

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

GPT-5.6 Terra

20 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

GPT-5.6 Terra

60 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

GPT-5.6 Terra

$9.00/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

+1%1,548

EloHigh is better

1,528

Code Elo

High is better

1,542

Code EloHigh is better

1,535

LiveBench

High is better

69.1%

LiveBenchHigh is better

69.5%+1%

SWE-bench

High is better

70.4%

SWE-benchHigh is better

73.8%+5%

GPQA

High is better

82%

GPQAHigh is better

88.4%+8%

TTFT

Low is better

+81%160 ms

TTFTLow is better

290 ms

Speed

High is better

+88%128 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

68 tok/s

In $

Low is better

+200%$1/1M

In $Low is better

$3/1M

Out $

Low is better

+150%$6/1M

Out $Low is better

$15/1M

Context

High is better

1.1M

ContextHigh is better

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

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

Save up to 62% with GPT-5.6 Terra

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

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

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

GPT-5.6 Terra$125.00 / mo

In: $35.00Out: $90.00

Kimi K3$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

Estimated Cost Delta

GPT-5.6 Terra is estimated to save $205.00/month ($2,460/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
GPT-5.6 Terra:Pick GPT-5.6 Terra when you are optimizing output cost.
3
GPT-5.6 Terra:Pick GPT-5.6 Terra when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K3

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatGPT-5.6 Terra

Lower output list price ($6/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGPT-5.6 Terra

Lower TTFT (160 ms).

Long-document RAGGPT-5.6 Terra

Larger window (1.1M).

Screenshots / visionGPT-5.6 Terra

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-5.6 Terra).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Kimi K3	Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chat	GPT-5.6 Terra	Lower output list price ($6/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	GPT-5.6 Terra	Lower TTFT (160 ms).
Long-document RAG	GPT-5.6 Terra	Larger window (1.1M).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-5.6 Terra	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-5.6 Terra).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

priceJul 30, 2026

GPT-5.6 Terra after the Jul 30 cut: $2/$12 mid-tier

Terra is OpenAI’s Sonnet-class invoice. Use it when Sol is too expensive and Luna is too small.

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.

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LIVE

OpenAI

GPT-5.6 Terra

Elo 1,548

LiveBench69.1%

SWE-bench70.4%

Speed128 tok/s

Output cost$6/1M

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, GPT-5.6 Terra or Kimi K3?: GPT-5.6 Terra has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,548). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, GPT-5.6 Terra or Kimi K3?: Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 70.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: GPT-5.6 Terra output tokens are $6/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, GPT-5.6 Terra or Kimi K3?: GPT-5.6 Terra has the lower time-to-first-token (160 ms vs 290 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?: GPT-5.6 Terra accepts 1.1M 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. GPT-5.6 Terra and Kimi K3 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All GPT-5.6 Terra matchups →|All Kimi K3 matchups →

Kimi K3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.5 (previous kimi)GPT-4.5 Orion vs GPT-5.6 Terra GPT-5 vs GPT-5.6 Terra GPT-5.6 Sol vs GPT-5.6 Terra OpenAI: o3 Mini vs GPT-5.6 Terra OpenAI: o1 vs Kimi K3

GPT-5.6 Terra vs Kimi K3 benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

GPT-5.6 Terra (7)vsKimi K3 (3)

GPT-5.6 Terra: 7W (70%)Overall: GPT-5.6 TerraKimi K3: 3W (30%)

← GPT-5.6 TerraKimi K3 →

Kimi K3 (3/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,548vs1,528

Coding Elo

1,542vs1,535

SWE-bench

70.4%vs73.8%

LiveBench

69.1%vs69.5%

GPQA Diamond

82%vs88.4%

GPT-5.6 Terra: 2WKimi K3: 3W

GPT-5.6 Terra (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

128 tok/svs68 tok/s

Time to first token

160 msvs290 ms

GPT-5.6 Terra: 2WKimi K3: 0W

GPT-5.6 Terra (3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$6/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$1/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

1.1Mvs1M

GPT-5.6 Terra: 3WKimi K3: 0W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K3

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatGPT-5.6 Terra

Lower output list price ($6/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGPT-5.6 Terra

Lower TTFT (160 ms).

Long-document RAGGPT-5.6 Terra

Larger window (1.1M).

Screenshots / visionGPT-5.6 Terra

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-5.6 Terra).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Kimi K3	Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chat	GPT-5.6 Terra	Lower output list price ($6/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	GPT-5.6 Terra	Lower TTFT (160 ms).
Long-document RAG	GPT-5.6 Terra	Larger window (1.1M).
Screenshots / vision	GPT-5.6 Terra	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GPT-5.6 Terra).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, GPT-5.6 Terra or Kimi K3?

GPT-5.6 Terra has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,548). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, GPT-5.6 Terra or Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 70.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

GPT-5.6 Terra output tokens are $6/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, GPT-5.6 Terra or Kimi K3?

GPT-5.6 Terra has the lower time-to-first-token (160 ms vs 290 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.

Which has the larger context window?

GPT-5.6 Terra accepts 1.1M 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. GPT-5.6 Terra 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

GPT-5.6 Terra

GPT-5.6 Terra

GPT-5.6 Terra

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

GPT-5.6 Terra after the Jul 30 cut: $2/$12 mid-tier

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

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GPT-5.6 Terra

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

GPT-5.6 Terra

GPT-5.6 Terra

GPT-5.6 Terra

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

GPT-5.6 Terra after the Jul 30 cut: $2/$12 mid-tier

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

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

GPT-5.6 Terra

Kimi K3

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons