DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) vs Kimi K3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) 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 19.4 points higher (43.6 vs 24.2) but costs 24× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $149; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 24.2, and DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) when 24.2 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) | Kimi K3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.2 | 43.6 | +80.2% Kimi K3 (Max) is 80.2% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $149.48 | $3,658.07 | +2347.2% Kimi K3 (Max) is 24× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 116.55s | 58.57s | −49.7% Kimi K3 (Max) is 49.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.11 / $0.23 | $3.00 / $15.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Kimi K3 (Max) vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max): 80.2% more intelligence, 2347.2% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 49.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
- Kimi K3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max)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-v4-flash-0420/kimi-k3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-flash-0420/kimi-k3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill