DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) vs Kimi K3 (Low)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) by DeepSeek or Kimi K3 (Low) 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 (Low) scores 5.4 points higher (30.1 vs 24.7) but costs 5.0× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $239; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Low) when you need intelligence above 24.7, and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) when 24.7 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) | Kimi K3 (Low) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.7 | 30.1 | +21.9% Kimi K3 (Low) is 21.9% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $238.91 | $1,190.42 | +398.3% Kimi K3 (Low) is 5.0× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 2.72s | 56.42s | +1974.3% Kimi K3 (Low) is 1974.3% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.30 / $1.20 | $3.00 / $15.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Kimi K3 (Low) vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning): 21.9% more intelligence, 398.3% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 1974.3% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Kimi K3 (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (Non-reasoning)Kimi K3 (Low)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-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning/kimi-k3-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-1-flash-non-reasoning/kimi-k3-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill