Kimi K3 (Max) vs MiniMax-M3
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or MiniMax-M3 by MiniMax? 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 14.4 points higher (43.6 vs 29.2) but costs 6.8× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $538; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 29.2, and MiniMax-M3 when 29.2 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | MiniMax-M3 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 29.2 | −33.0% MiniMax-M3 is 33.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $537.98 | −85.3% MiniMax-M3 is 85.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 63.08s | 26.74s | −57.6% MiniMax-M3 is 57.6% 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 (Max): 33.0% less intelligence, 85.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 57.6% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 55.10 for $3117.
- MiniMax-M3 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Kimi K3 (Max)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/minimax-m3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/minimax-m3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill