Kimi K3 (Max) vs Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) by Alibaba? 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 28.0 points higher (43.6 vs 15.6) but costs 5.5× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $661; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 15.6, and Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) when 15.6 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 15.6 | −64.2% Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Re… is 64.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $661.29 | −81.9% Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Re… is 81.9% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 50.42s | 21.43s | −57.5% Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Re… is 57.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.40 / $3.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) vs Kimi K3 (Max): 64.2% less intelligence, 81.9% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 57.5% 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.
- Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Kimi K3 (Max)Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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