Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Grok 4.6 vs Kimi K3 benchmark

Name: Grok 4.6 vs Kimi K3 AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Grok 4.6 (xAI) and Kimi K3 (Moonshot) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, Grok 4.6 is ahead by 64 points (1,592 vs 1,528; seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, Kimi K3 resolves 73.8% versus 69.1% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). Grok 4.6 streams faster (118 tok/s) while Grok 4.6 is the cheaper output token ($6/1M). 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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xAI

Grok 4.6

xAI Aug 12 2026 post-training refresh of Grok 4.5. Same $2/$6 API price, 500k context, stronger agentic traces.

Elo 1,592$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.

Grok 4.6 (7)vsKimi K3 (3)

Grok 4.6: 7W (70%)Overall: Grok 4.6Kimi K3: 3W (30%)

← Grok 4.6Kimi K3 →

Grok 4.6 (3/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,592vs1,528

Coding Elo

1,568vs1,535

SWE-bench

69.1%vs73.8%

LiveBench

71.4%vs69.5%

GPQA Diamond

84.6%vs88.4%

Grok 4.6: 3WKimi K3: 2W

Grok 4.6 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

118 tok/svs68 tok/s

Time to first token

195 msvs290 ms

Grok 4.6: 2WKimi K3: 0W

Grok 4.6 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$6/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$2/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

500kvs1M

Grok 4.6: 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

Grok 4.6

64 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

Grok 4.6

50 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

Grok 4.6

$9.00/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

+4%1,592

EloHigh is better

1,528

Code Elo

High is better

+2%1,568

Code EloHigh is better

1,535

LiveBench

High is better

+3%71.4%

LiveBenchHigh is better

69.5%

SWE-bench

High is better

69.1%

SWE-benchHigh is better

73.8%+7%

GPQA

High is better

84.6%

GPQAHigh is better

88.4%+4%

TTFT

Low is better

+49%195 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

+150%$6/1M

Out $Low is better

$15/1M

Context

High is better

500k

ContextHigh is better

1M+110%

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

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

Save up to 52% with Grok 4.6

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

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

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

Grok 4.6$160.00 / mo

In: $70.00Out: $90.00

Kimi K3$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

Estimated Cost Delta

Grok 4.6 is estimated to save $170.00/month ($2,040/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
Grok 4.6:Pick Grok 4.6 when you are optimizing output cost.
3
Grok 4.6:Pick Grok 4.6 when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K3

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatGrok 4.6

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

Voice / low-latency UIGrok 4.6

Lower TTFT (195 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGrok 4.6

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Grok 4.6).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Kimi K3	Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chat	Grok 4.6	Lower output list price ($6/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Grok 4.6	Lower TTFT (195 ms).
Long-document RAG	Kimi K3	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Grok 4.6	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Grok 4.6).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

compareAug 12, 2026

Grok vs ChatGPT: price and Elo, not a personality contest

Brand hub remaps to top xAI vs top OpenAI. After Aug 12 that is Grok 4.6 vs Sol.

launchAug 12, 2026

Grok 4.6 (Aug 12): post-training refresh, same $2/$6 list

xAI’s Aug 12 2026 refresh of Grok 4.5. 500k context. The Grok vs ChatGPT hub remaps here.

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.

launchJul 10, 2025

Grok 4 remains the previous xAI flagship on this catalog

2025-07 row. 4.6 is the buy. We keep 4 so upgrade pairs and old inbound links resolve.

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LIVE

xAI

Grok 4.6

Elo 1,592

LiveBench71.4%

SWE-bench69.1%

Speed118 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, Grok 4.6 or Kimi K3?: Grok 4.6 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,592). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Grok 4.6 or Kimi K3?: Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 69.1%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: Grok 4.6 output tokens are $6/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Grok 4.6 or Kimi K3?: Grok 4.6 has the lower time-to-first-token (195 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 500k.
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. Grok 4.6 and Kimi K3 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Grok 4.6 matchups →|All Kimi K3 matchups →

Grok 4.6 vs Grok 4 (previous grok)Kimi K3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.5 (previous kimi)Claude Opus 4.8 vs Grok 4.6 GPT-5.6 Sol vs Grok 4.6 Claude Opus 4.6 vs Grok 4.6 Gemini 3.6 Pro vs Grok 4.6

Grok 4.6 vs Kimi K3 benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Grok 4.6 (7)vsKimi K3 (3)

Grok 4.6: 7W (70%)Overall: Grok 4.6Kimi K3: 3W (30%)

← Grok 4.6Kimi K3 →

Grok 4.6 (3/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,592vs1,528

Coding Elo

1,568vs1,535

SWE-bench

69.1%vs73.8%

LiveBench

71.4%vs69.5%

GPQA Diamond

84.6%vs88.4%

Grok 4.6: 3WKimi K3: 2W

Grok 4.6 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

118 tok/svs68 tok/s

Time to first token

195 msvs290 ms

Grok 4.6: 2WKimi K3: 0W

Grok 4.6 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$6/1Mvs$15/1M

Input price

$2/1Mvs$3/1M

Context window

500kvs1M

Grok 4.6: 2WKimi K3: 1W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K3

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatGrok 4.6

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

Voice / low-latency UIGrok 4.6

Lower TTFT (195 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGrok 4.6

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Grok 4.6).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	Kimi K3	Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chat	Grok 4.6	Lower output list price ($6/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Grok 4.6	Lower TTFT (195 ms).
Long-document RAG	Kimi K3	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	Grok 4.6	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Grok 4.6).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Grok 4.6 or Kimi K3?

Grok 4.6 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,592). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, Grok 4.6 or Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 69.1%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

Grok 4.6 output tokens are $6/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Grok 4.6 or Kimi K3?

Grok 4.6 has the lower time-to-first-token (195 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 500k.

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. Grok 4.6 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

Grok 4.6

Grok 4.6

Grok 4.6

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Grok vs ChatGPT: price and Elo, not a personality contest

Grok 4.6 (Aug 12): post-training refresh, same $2/$6 list

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

Grok 4 remains the previous xAI flagship on this catalog

Cast Your Matchup Vote

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CompareLLM Matrix

Grok 4.6

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

Grok 4.6

Grok 4.6

Grok 4.6

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

Grok vs ChatGPT: price and Elo, not a personality contest

Grok 4.6 (Aug 12): post-training refresh, same $2/$6 list

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

Grok 4 remains the previous xAI flagship on this catalog

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

Grok 4.6

Kimi K3

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons