Kimi K3 (Max) vs Qwen3.8-Flash-Next
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Qwen3.8-Flash-Next 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 3.8 points higher (43.6 vs 39.8) but costs 10× as much to run the benchmark ($3658 vs $363; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 39.8, and Qwen3.8-Flash-Next when 39.8 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Qwen3.8-Flash-Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 39.8 | −8.7% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 8.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $362.72 | −90.1% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 90.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 56.93s | 50.49s | −11.3% Qwen3.8-Flash-Next is 11.3% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $0.15 / $0.47 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Qwen3.8-Flash-Next vs Kimi K3 (Max): 8.7% less intelligence, 90.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 11.3% 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-Flash-Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Medium) scores 47.80 for $361.
Kimi K3 (Max)Qwen3.8-Flash-NextToday'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-flash-next · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/qwen3-8-flash-next?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill