DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) vs Kimi K3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) by DeepSeek 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 32.2 points higher (43.6 vs 11.4) but costs 7.9× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $461; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 11.4, and DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) when 11.4 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) | Kimi K3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.4 | 43.6 | +282.5% Kimi K3 (Max) is 3.8× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $460.74 | $3,658.07 | +694.0% Kimi K3 (Max) is 7.9× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 20.16s | 56.93s | +182.4% Kimi K3 (Max) is 182.4% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $4.00 | $3.00 / $15.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Kimi K3 (Max) vs DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25): 282.5% more intelligence, 694.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 182.4% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
- Kimi K3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25)Kimi K3 (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-r1-0120/kimi-k3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-r1-0120/kimi-k3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill