DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) by DeepSeek or Kimi K3.1 Pro by Kimi? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 43.7 points higher (55.1 vs 11.4) but costs 6.8× as much to run the benchmark ($3117 vs $461; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3.1 Pro when you need intelligence above 11.4, and DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) when 11.4 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25) | Kimi K3.1 Pro | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 11.4 | 55.1 | +383.3% Kimi K3.1 Pro is 4.8× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $460.74 | $3,117.31 | +576.6% Kimi K3.1 Pro is 6.8× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 20.20s | 42.64s | +111.1% Kimi K3.1 Pro is 111.1% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $4.00 | $2.00 / $10.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Kimi K3.1 Pro vs DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25): 383.3% more intelligence, 576.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 111.1% 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 K3.1 Pro is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
DeepSeek R1 (Jan '25)Kimi K3.1 ProToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-r1-0120/kimi-k3-1-pro · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-r1-0120/kimi-k3-1-pro?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill