Kimi K3 (Max) vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K3 (Max) by Kimi or Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 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
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) scores 1.8 points higher (45.4 vs 43.6) but costs 1.3× as much to run the benchmark ($4935 vs $3658; both flagship class). Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Kimi K3 (Max).
| Metric | Kimi K3 (Max) | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 43.6 | 45.4 | +4.1% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 4.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $3,658.07 | $4,934.79 | +34.9% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 34.9% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 58.57s | 64.05s | +9.4% Qwen3.8 Max (0902) is 9.4% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $3.00 / $15.0 | $2.00 / $6.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) vs Kimi K3 (Max): 4.1% more intelligence, 34.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 9.4% 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 Max (0902) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
Kimi K3 (Max)Qwen3.8 Max (0902)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-max · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k3/qwen3-8-max?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill