Kimi K3 (Low) vs MiniMax-M3
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Low) by Kimi or MiniMax-M3 by MiniMax? 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 0.9 points higher (30.1 vs 29.2) but costs 2.2× as much to run the benchmark ($1190 vs $538; both premium class). Pick Kimi K3 (Low) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise MiniMax-M3.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Low) | MiniMax-M3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.1 | 29.2 | −3.0% MiniMax-M3 is 3.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,190.42 | $537.98 | −54.8% MiniMax-M3 is 54.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 62.29s | 25.47s | −59.1% MiniMax-M3 is 59.1% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.30 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
MiniMax-M3 vs Kimi K3 (Low): 3.0% less intelligence, 54.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 59.1% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K3 (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- MiniMax-M3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Kimi K3 (Low)MiniMax-M3Today'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/kimi-k3-low/minimax-m3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3-low/minimax-m3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill