Kimi K3 (Max) vs Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Qwen3.5 397B A17B (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 25.2 points higher (43.6 vs 18.4) but costs 3.9× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $941; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 18.4, and Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) when 18.4 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 18.4 | −57.8% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 57.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $940.97 | −74.3% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 74.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 50.42s | 64.71s | +28.3% Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Re… is 28.3% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.60 / $3.60 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning) vs Kimi K3 (Max): 57.8% less intelligence, 74.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 28.3% slower 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 397B A17B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
Kimi K3 (Max)Qwen3.5 397B A17B (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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