Kimi K3 (Max) vs Qwen3.8 27B (Low)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Qwen3.8 27B (Low) 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 17.4 points higher (43.6 vs 26.2) but costs 3.5× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $1060; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 26.2, and Qwen3.8 27B (Low) when 26.2 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Qwen3.8 27B (Low) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 26.2 | −39.9% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 39.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $1,060.08 | −71.0% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 71.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 53.89s | 55.10s | +2.2% Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is 2.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.50 / $3.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 27B (Low) vs Kimi K3 (Max): 39.9% less intelligence, 71.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 2.2% 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.
- Qwen3.8 27B (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
Kimi K3 (Max)Qwen3.8 27B (Low)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/qwen3-8-27b-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/qwen3-8-27b-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill