Kimi K3 (Low) vs Qwen3.8 Max
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Low) by Kimi or Qwen3.8 Max by Alibaba? 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
Qwen3.8 Max scores 10.1 points higher (40.2 vs 30.1) but costs 2.7× as much to run the benchmark ($3172 vs $1190; flagship vs premium cost classes). Pick Qwen3.8 Max when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Kimi K3 (Low).
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Low) | Qwen3.8 Max | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 30.1 | 40.2 | +33.6% Qwen3.8 Max is 33.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,190.42 | $3,172.37 | +166.5% Qwen3.8 Max is 2.7× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 56.42s | 64.17s | +13.7% Qwen3.8 Max is 13.7% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 Max vs Kimi K3 (Low): 33.6% more intelligence, 166.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 13.7% slower 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.
- Qwen3.8 Max is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
Kimi K3 (Low)Qwen3.8 MaxToday'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/qwen3-8-max-0803 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3-low/qwen3-8-max-0803?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill