Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) vs Kimi K3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallba… scores 9.6 points higher (53.2 vs 43.6) but costs 2.5× as much to run the benchmark ($9063 vs $3658; both flagship class). Pick Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallba… when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Kimi K3 (Max).
| Metric | Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) | Kimi K3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 53.2 | 43.6 | −18.0% Kimi K3 (Max) is 18.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $9,063.11 | $3,658.07 | −59.6% Kimi K3 (Max) is 59.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 82.85s | 50.42s | −39.1% Kimi K3 (Max) is 39.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $10.0 / $50.0 | $3.00 / $15.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Kimi K3 (Max) vs Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback): 18.0% less intelligence, 59.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 39.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 57.60 for $8708.
- Kimi K3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
Claude Fable 5.1 (Xhigh, Default Fallback)Kimi K3 (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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