Kimi K3 (Max) vs Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-27.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K3 (Max) scores 23.4 points higher (43.6 vs 20.2) but costs 1.8× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $2022; both flagship class). Pick Kimi K3 (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning).
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 20.2 | −53.7% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 53.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $2,022.49 | −44.7% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 44.7% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 48.09s | 13.84s | −71.2% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 71.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.50 / $3.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) vs Kimi K3 (Max): 53.7% less intelligence, 44.7% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 71.2% 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.
- Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Kimi K3 (Max)Qwen3.8 27B (Non-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/qwen3-8-27b-non-reasoning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/qwen3-8-27b-non-reasoning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill