Kimi K3 (Max) vs Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) 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 20.7 points higher (43.6 vs 22.9) but costs 6.1× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $596; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 22.9, and Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) when 22.9 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 22.9 | −47.5% Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B… is 47.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $596.33 | −83.7% Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B… is 83.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 48.51s | 15.27s | −68.5% Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B… is 68.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.60 / $2.70 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) vs Kimi K3 (Max): 47.5% less intelligence, 83.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 68.5% 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 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Kimi K3 (Max)Nemotron 3 Ultra 550B A55B (Reasoning)Today'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/nvidia-nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/nvidia-nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill