Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh) vs Kimi K3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh) by Anthropic or Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K3 (Max) scores 9.2 points higher (43.6 vs 34.4) but costs 1.1× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $3255; both flagship class). Pick Kimi K3 (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh).
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh) | Kimi K3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.4 | 43.6 | +26.7% Kimi K3 (Max) is 26.7% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,255.40 | $3,658.07 | +12.4% Kimi K3 (Max) is 12.4% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 21.07s | 56.93s | +170.2% Kimi K3 (Max) is 170.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $3.00 / $15.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Kimi K3 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh): 26.7% more intelligence, 12.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 170.2% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- Kimi K3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
Claude Sonnet 5 (Xhigh)Kimi K3 (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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