Kimi K3 (Max) vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL by NVIDIA? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K3 (Max) scores 17.1 points higher (43.6 vs 26.5) but costs 13× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $286; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 26.5, and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL when 26.5 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 26.5 | −39.2% Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is 39.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $286.07 | −92.2% Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is 92.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 50.42s | 6.31s | −87.5% Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is 87.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.23 / $0.57 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL vs Kimi K3 (Max): 39.2% less intelligence, 92.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 87.5% 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.
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Kimi K3 (Max)Nemotron 3.5 Super VLToday'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/nemotron-3-5-super-vl · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/nemotron-3-5-super-vl?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill