Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Kimi K3 vs MiniMax M2.5 benchmark

Name: Kimi K3 vs MiniMax M2.5 AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Kimi K3 (Moonshot) and MiniMax M2.5 (MiniMax) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, Kimi K3 is ahead by 50 points (1,528 vs 1,478; seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, MiniMax M2.5 resolves 75.8% versus 73.8% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 1, 2026)). MiniMax M2.5 streams faster (90 tok/s) while MiniMax M2.5 is the cheaper output token ($0.9/1M). 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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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

MiniMax

MiniMax M2.5

MiniMax coding model. Tied near the top of official SWE-bench bash-only in Feb 2026.

Elo 1,478$0.8999999999999999/1M 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.

Kimi K3 (4)vsMiniMax M2.5 (6)

Kimi K3: 4W (40%)Overall: MiniMax M2.5MiniMax M2.5: 6W (60%)

← Kimi K3MiniMax M2.5 →

Kimi K3 (3/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,528vs1,478

Coding Elo

1,535vs1,536

SWE-bench

73.8%vs75.8%

LiveBench

69.5%vs64.4%

GPQA Diamond

88.4%vs76.2%

Kimi K3: 3WMiniMax M2.5: 2W

MiniMax M2.5 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

68 tok/svs90 tok/s

Time to first token

290 msvs250 ms

Kimi K3: 0WMiniMax M2.5: 2W

MiniMax M2.5 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$15/1Mvs$0.9/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$0.22/1M

Context window

1Mvs205k

Kimi K3: 1WMiniMax M2.5: 2W

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

Kimi K3

50 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

MiniMax M2.5

22 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

MiniMax M2.5

$14.10/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

+3%1,528

EloHigh is better

1,478

Code Elo

High is better

1,535

Code EloHigh is better

1,536

LiveBench

High is better

+8%69.5%

LiveBenchHigh is better

64.4%

SWE-bench

High is better

73.8%

SWE-benchHigh is better

75.8%+3%

GPQA

High is better

+16%88.4%

GPQAHigh is better

76.2%

TTFT

Low is better

290 ms

TTFTLow is better

250 ms+16%

Speed

High is better

68 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

90 tok/s+32%

In $

Low is better

$3/1M

In $Low is better

$0.22/1M+1264%

Out $

Low is better

$15/1M

Out $Low is better

$0.9/1M+1567%

Context

High is better

+412%1M

ContextHigh is better

205k

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

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

Save up to 94% with MiniMax M2.5

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

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

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

Kimi K3$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

MiniMax M2.5$21.20 / mo

In: $7.70Out: $13.50

Estimated Cost Delta

MiniMax M2.5 is estimated to save $308.80/month ($3,706/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
MiniMax M2.5:Pick MiniMax M2.5 when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
MiniMax M2.5:Pick MiniMax M2.5 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 agentsMiniMax M2.5

Higher SWE-bench (75.8%).

High-volume chatMiniMax M2.5

Lower output list price ($0.9/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIMiniMax M2.5

Lower TTFT (250 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	MiniMax M2.5	Higher SWE-bench (75.8%).
High-volume chat	MiniMax M2.5	Lower output list price ($0.9/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	MiniMax M2.5	Lower TTFT (250 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.

launchFeb 12, 2026

MiniMax M2.5: the Feb 2026 SWE-bench specialist still on the board

Tied near the top of official SWE-bench bash-only in Feb 2026. Coding lists should still see it.

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LIVE

Moonshot

Kimi K3

Elo 1,528

LiveBench69.5%

SWE-bench73.8%

Speed68 tok/s

Output cost$15/1M

MiniMax

MiniMax M2.5

Elo 1,478

LiveBench64.4%

SWE-bench75.8%

Speed90 tok/s

Output cost$0.9/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Kimi K3 or MiniMax M2.5?: 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, Kimi K3 or MiniMax M2.5?: MiniMax M2.5 leads SWE-bench at 75.8% vs 73.8%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: MiniMax M2.5 output tokens are $0.9/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Kimi K3 or MiniMax M2.5?: MiniMax M2.5 has the lower time-to-first-token (250 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 205k.
Can I self-host either model?: MiniMax M2.5 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. Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2.5 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Kimi K3 matchups →|All MiniMax M2.5 matchups →

Kimi K3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.5 (previous kimi)MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 0711 vs MiniMax M2.5 Gemini 3.7 Flash vs Kimi K3 Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Kimi K3 DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Kimi K3 Qwen 3 Max vs Kimi K3

Kimi K3 vs MiniMax M2.5 benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Kimi K3 (4)vsMiniMax M2.5 (6)

Kimi K3: 4W (40%)Overall: MiniMax M2.5MiniMax M2.5: 6W (60%)

← Kimi K3MiniMax M2.5 →

Kimi K3 (3/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo

1,528vs1,478

Coding Elo

1,535vs1,536

SWE-bench

73.8%vs75.8%

LiveBench

69.5%vs64.4%

GPQA Diamond

88.4%vs76.2%

Kimi K3: 3WMiniMax M2.5: 2W

MiniMax M2.5 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

68 tok/svs90 tok/s

Time to first token

290 msvs250 ms

Kimi K3: 0WMiniMax M2.5: 2W

MiniMax M2.5 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$15/1Mvs$0.9/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$0.22/1M

Context window

1Mvs205k

Kimi K3: 1WMiniMax M2.5: 2W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsMiniMax M2.5

Higher SWE-bench (75.8%).

High-volume chatMiniMax M2.5

Lower output list price ($0.9/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIMiniMax M2.5

Lower TTFT (250 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	MiniMax M2.5	Higher SWE-bench (75.8%).
High-volume chat	MiniMax M2.5	Lower output list price ($0.9/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	MiniMax M2.5	Lower TTFT (250 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, Kimi K3 or MiniMax M2.5?

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, Kimi K3 or MiniMax M2.5?

MiniMax M2.5 leads SWE-bench at 75.8% vs 73.8%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

MiniMax M2.5 output tokens are $0.9/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Kimi K3 or MiniMax M2.5?

MiniMax M2.5 has the lower time-to-first-token (250 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 205k.

Can I self-host either model?

MiniMax M2.5 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. Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2.5 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

MiniMax M2.5

MiniMax M2.5

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

MiniMax M2.5: the Feb 2026 SWE-bench specialist still on the board

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CompareLLM Matrix

Kimi K3

MiniMax M2.5

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

MiniMax M2.5

MiniMax M2.5

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

MiniMax M2.5: the Feb 2026 SWE-bench specialist still on the board

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

Kimi K3

MiniMax M2.5

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons