GPT-5 mini (High) vs Kimi K3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: GPT-5 mini (High) by OpenAI or Kimi K3 (Max) 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 (Max) scores 26.8 points higher (43.6 vs 16.8) but costs 19× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $189; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 16.8, and GPT-5 mini (High) when 16.8 is enough.
| Metric | GPT-5 mini (High) | Kimi K3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 16.8 | 43.6 | +159.5% Kimi K3 (Max) is 2.6× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $188.66 | $3,658.07 | +1839.0% Kimi K3 (Max) is 19× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 58.72s | 63.08s | +7.4% Kimi K3 (Max) is 7.4% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.25 / $2.00 | $3.00 / $15.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Kimi K3 (Max) vs GPT-5 mini (High): 159.5% more intelligence, 1839.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 7.4% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GPT-5 mini (High) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Haiku 5.5 (Xhigh) scores 41.20 for $158.
- Kimi K3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
GPT-5 mini (High)Kimi K3 (Max)Today'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/gpt-5-mini/kimi-k3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gpt-5-mini/kimi-k3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill