Kimi K3 (Max) vs Qwen3.5 9B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Qwen3.5 9B (Reasoning) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K3 (Max) scores 32.4 points higher (43.6 vs 11.2) but costs 11× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $329; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 11.2, and Qwen3.5 9B (Reasoning) when 11.2 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Qwen3.5 9B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 11.2 | −74.3% Qwen3.5 9B (Reasoning) is 74.3% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $328.86 | −91.0% Qwen3.5 9B (Reasoning) is 91.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 53.89s | 42.11s | −21.9% Qwen3.5 9B (Reasoning) is 21.9% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.14 / $0.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.5 9B (Reasoning) vs Kimi K3 (Max): 74.3% less intelligence, 91.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 21.9% 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 9B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Kimi K3 (Max)Qwen3.5 9B (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/qwen3-5-9b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/qwen3-5-9b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill