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  3. Kimi K3 vs Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026noindex (thin pair)

Kimi K3 vs Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is more budget-friendly at $1.9/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose Kimi K3 if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
Share Analysis:
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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
Alibaba
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Auto-discovered from OpenRouter (qwen/qwen3-vl-235b-a22b-instruct). Preview until a second source matches.

$1.9/1M out

Kimi K3 Thinking Depth & Cost Scaler

Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost

Mode: Medium (Deep Reasoning)

Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.

Thinking Delay
290 ms
Standard speed
Reasoning Depth
~2,500
Internal tokens
Cost / 1k Calls
$43.50
7.3× standard bill
Accuracy Boost
+5.5% accuracy
STEM & SWE-bench
Top Rival Showdowns for Kimi K3
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5vs GPT-5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs DeepSeek V4 Pro
Preference Leader

No shared data

Single model data

Throughput Leader

No shared data

No latency data

Value per Dollar Leader

Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

$1.9 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

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 5/6
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

Kimi K3 (8)vsQwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (2)
Kimi K3: 8W (80%)Overall: Kimi K3Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: 2W (20%)
← Kimi K3Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct →
Kimi K3 (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Preference Elo
1,528vs—
Coding Elo
1,535vs—
SWE-bench
73.8%vs—
LiveBench
69.5%vs—
GPQA Diamond
88.4%vs—
Kimi K3: 5WQwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: 0W
Kimi K3 (2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed
68 tok/svs—
Time to first token
290 msvs—
Kimi K3: 2WQwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: 0W
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price
$15/1Mvs$1.9/1M
Input price
$3/1Mvs$0.21/1M
Context window
1Mvs262k
Kimi K3: 1WQwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct: 2W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo
Kimi K31,528
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct—
Coding Elo
Kimi K31,535
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct—
LiveBench
Kimi K369.5%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct—
SWE-bench
Kimi K373.8%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct—
GPQA Diamond
Kimi K388.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct—
Time to first token
Kimi K3290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct—
Output speed
Kimi K368 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct—
Input priceQwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (+$2.79/1M)
Kimi K3$3/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$0.21/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Output priceQwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (+$13.1/1M)
Kimi K3$15/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$1.9/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Context windowKimi K3 (+786k)
Kimi K31M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct262k
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructAdvantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,528
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
——
Coding Elo
1,535
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
——
LiveBench
69.5%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
——
SWE-bench
73.8%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
——
GPQA Diamond
88.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
——
Time to first token
290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
——
Output speed
68 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
——
Input price
$3/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$0.21/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (+$2.79/1M)
Output price
$15/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$1.9/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct (+$13.1/1M)
Context window
1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
262k
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Kimi K3 (+786k)
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 89% with Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
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: $105Out: $225
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct$35.85 / mo
In: $7.35Out: $28.5
Estimated Cost Delta

Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct is estimated to save $294.15/month ($3,530/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct:Pick Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 2
    Kimi K3:Pick Kimi K3 for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsinsufficient data

Need SWE-bench on both sides.

High-volume chatQwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Lower output list price ($1.9/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient data

Need TTFT on both sides.

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionKimi K3

Kimi K3 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsinsufficient dataNeed SWE-bench on both sides.
High-volume chatQwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B InstructLower output list price ($1.9/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIinsufficient dataNeed TTFT on both sides.
Long-document RAGKimi K3Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / visionKimi K3Kimi 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

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CompareLLM Matrix

Verified head-to-head card

LIVE
VS
Moonshot

Kimi K3

Elo 1,528
LiveBench69.5%
SWE-bench73.8%
Speed68 tok/s
Output cost$15/1M
Alibaba

Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct

Elo n/a
LiveBench—
SWE-bench—
Speed—
Output cost$1.9/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Kimi K3 or Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?
We do not have preference Elo for both models, so we do not declare an overall winner. Compare the metrics that exist.
Which is better at coding, Kimi K3 or Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?
SWE-bench is missing for at least one model, so we do not rank coding from a single number.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct output tokens are $1.9/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Kimi K3 or Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct?
We do not have TTFT for both models.
Which has the larger context window?
Kimi K3 accepts 1M tokens versus 262k.
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. Kimi K3 and Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • launch · Jun 8, 2026

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

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Kimi K3 matchups →|All Qwen: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct matchups →
Kimi K3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.5 (previous kimi)Qwen 3 Max vs Kimi K3Qwen QwQ 32B vs Kimi K3MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 0711 vs Kimi K3Gemini 3.7 Flash vs Kimi K3Qwen 2.5 Plus vs Kimi K3