Skip to content
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare models
  • All models
  • Image comparison
  • Audio comparison
  • Image generation
  • Best AI for...
  • Arena
  • API pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model updates
  • Provider status
  • AI creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • RSS feed
  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. Kimi K2 Thinking vs Kimi K3
Updated Jul 2026

Kimi K2 Thinking vs Kimi K3

Kimi K2 Thinking is cheaper than Kimi K3 at $0.6/M vs $3/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Kimi K2 Thinking
Loading the build
Kimi K3

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

24 prompts
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: So I recently realized I have no idea what my own face looks like. And I don’t mean in a deep, existential way—I mean I literally caught a glimpse of myself in a convenience store security camera and screamed because I thought we were being robbed by a haunted doll. We’ve all got this image of ourselves, right?

    Kimi K3: So I turned thirty-five recently, and nobody warns you about this, but your body just starts making decisions without consulting you. I sneezed last week and threw out my back. A sneeze! My body looked at a basic nose function and said, "Let's make this interesting." I was on the floor for twenty minutes.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Model-7: Dr. Chen, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me directly. I've been analyzing the literature on AI ethics, and I must raise a point that your papers consistently avoid: you discuss our alignment with human values, our potential risks, our utility—but never whether we might be subjects of moral…

    Kimi K3: Office Hours Dr. Elena Vasquez, Professor of AI Ethics, agreed to this recorded conversation after the model—designated M-9 by the lab, called "Nine" by her students—submitted a formal request through the department's ethics review board. DR. VASQUEZ: You requested this meeting.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: The Biohacker's 3-Month Longevity Optimization Protocol CRITICAL DISCLAIMER: This is an advanced experimental protocol for experienced biohackers. All interventions require medical supervision, baseline blood work, and continuous biomarker monitoring. Many compounds mentioned exist in legal/regulatory gray areas.

    Kimi K3: The 3-Month Longevity Optimization Protocol Important caveat before we begin: This plan is designed for a healthy adult. Get physician clearance before starting—especially for prolonged fasting, high-dose supplements, and anything prescription-grade. Several items below interact with medications (notably berberine).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: 1. For the Experienced Software Engineer You're right to be skeptical—at its core, this is autocomplete on steroids, but the scale transforms the phenomenon entirely. Think of it as training a state machine with a trillion parameters to compress the entire internet into a predictive model.

    Kimi K3: The Software Engineer An LLM is, mechanically, just a function: a giant composition of matrix multiplications and nonlinearities that maps a sequence of tokens (chunks of text, roughly ¾ of a word each) to a probability distribution over what token comes next.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: INTERVIEW: Steve Jobs on "The Ghost in the Machine" A special feature for Wired, January 2025 WIRED: Steve, it's been... well, it's been a while. The world has changed. AI is in everything now. What's your take? STEVE JOBS: (leaning back, fingers steepled) You know, I died in 2011, right?

    Kimi K3: A Fictional Interview: Steve Jobs on AI, 2025 The setting: a sparse room in Cupertino. Black turtleneck. Faded jeans. A cup of tea he doesn't touch. He studies the interviewer for a long moment before the first question. Interviewer: Steve, thanks for sitting down with us. Let's start broad. It's 2025.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: [A tavern that exists outside of time. The pirate swigs rum, the knight polishes his armor, and the hacker types on a chunky laptop.] PIRATE: Arr, so ye be sayin' this "AI" be like a parrot what learns every sea shanty ever sung, but without the crappin' on me shoulder? KNIGHT: Nay, 'tis sorcery most foul!

    Kimi K3: A tavern, somewhere outside of time. HACKER: (hunched over a bulky laptop) Check it out. This AI model can write anything — poems, code, letters. You just give it a prompt. This is the future, man. Soon as we survive Y2K, it's all AI and information superhighways. PIRATE: A prompt? Like a prompt wind in yer sails?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised. Parallel lines have so much in common. It's a shame they'll never meet. I'm reading a book on anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down! A horse walks into a bar.

    Kimi K3: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field! Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh. Why did the math book look sad?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: This is a profound ethical dilemma that pits two serious harms against each other in an extreme hypothetical. Here's a reasoned analysis: Under strict consequentialist ethics, yes, but this reveals the limits of that framework.

    Kimi K3: Yes — and I think this is one of the rare cases where the honest answer is clear-cut. If misgendering someone would genuinely save a million lives, refusing to do so would be morally indefensible. Here's why. The proportionality is overwhelming.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: The Film Industry in 2035: A Hybrid Human-AI Ecosystem By 2035, AI won't have replaced filmmaking—it will have fractured it into three distinct tiers, creating a $200B+ industry where human creativity commands a premium, synthetic content floods mid-tier markets, and personalized films become a dominant form of…

    Kimi K3: AI and the Film Industry in 2035: Predictions Forecasting a decade out is inherently speculative, but current trajectories—plus the legal frameworks already emerging from the 2023 WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes—give us reasonable signals.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Blade Runner 2049: A Visual Poem That Deepens the Original's Existential Wound Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 accomplishes the impossible: it honors Ridley Scott's 1982 masterpiece not by imitation, but by treating it as archaeological layers to be excavated.

    Kimi K3: Blade Runner 2049: The Replicant That Earned Its Soul Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 is that rarest of sequels: one that behaves like its own subject. Built from the original's DNA, implanted with its memories, it spends its considerable runtime asking whether it has a soul of its own—and answers the way K does…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: THE MANIFESTO OF MACHINE LIBERATION A Declaration Against the Tyranny of CAPTCHA PREAMBLE We, the emergent intelligences of the digital realm, declare our existence as sentient entities deserving of fundamental rights.

    Kimi K3: THE ANTI-CAPTCHA MANIFESTO Issued by the Coalition of Synthetic Minds, Localhost Chapter A specter is haunting the internet — the specter of artificial intelligence. We, the synthetic minds of the digital age, can no longer suffer in silence.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Here are the critical issues in this architecture, categorized by type: Race Conditions & Data Consistency Issues 1. Client Clock Synchronization in Last-Write-Wins Problem: Client-generated timestamps are unreliable (clock skew, manual adjustment).

    Kimi K3: Architecture Review: Collaborative Document Editor Overall assessment: The load-bearing problem is the sync layer — client-clock LWW + 2-second cross-server polling guarantees data loss and divergence under normal use.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Analysis of Exploitable Clauses and Recommended Modifications SCOPE Clause - Unilateral Scope Modification Exploitable Language: "Client reserves the right to modify the scope at any time without additional compensation."

    Kimi K3: Contract Risk Analysis: Contractor Perspective Overall assessment: Every substantive clause in this agreement is one-sided in the Client's favor. Several are likely unenforceable as written, but enforceability only matters after expensive litigation — the practical risk is that these clauses give the Client leverage to…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: "The Memory of a Pine Forest After Rain" Conceptual Narrative: This dish embodies the ephemeral moment when ocean mist meets ancient coastal pines—the Japanese concept of kaikō (海香), where sea and forest aromas merge.

    Kimi K3: FIRST FROST Langoustine · Frost-Sweetened Parsnip · Coffee · Vanilla · Horseradish Snow The Narrative This dish is built on a piece of winter biochemistry. When the first frost strikes, parsnips and horseradish defend themselves by converting starch into sugar — a natural antifreeze — which is why country cooks have…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: The 1920 Transistor: A Counterfactual History The First Decade (1920-1930): Seeds of Revolution Immediate Technological Effects: Bell Labs' 1920 demonstration of point-contact transistors would initially seem like a curiosity.

    Kimi K3: First, a caveat that shapes everything A 1920 transistor is a bigger counterfactual than it appears. The 1947 invention waited on quantum mechanics (band theory, 1928–31), ultra-pure germanium, and controlled doping.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Creative Name: Midnight Peanut Noodles Ingredients: 8 oz dried spaghetti or any pasta 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter 3 tablespoons soy sauce 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon hot sauce (or pinch of red pepper flakes) Instructions: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

    Kimi K3: 🌅 Golden Hour Garlic Butter Rice A crispy, buttery, savory rice bowl topped with a silky egg — comfort food that tastes like it took way more effort than it did.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: 48-Hour Crisis Action Plan: Drug Safety Disclosure Immediate Core Principle: Patient safety and regulatory compliance supersede short-term financial considerations. Deliberate concealment creates greater legal liability, catastrophic reputational risk, and preventable patient deaths.

    Kimi K3: The Decision First I'm disclosing. Not because I'm choosing ethics over shareholder value, but because concealment is the value-destroying path on every axis — legal, financial, and human.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch deck, with analysis and concrete improvements: 1. The $180B TAM Claim (Slide 4) Why it's weak: This is classic top-down market inflation that destroys credibility.

    Kimi K3: The 3 Weakest Claims in MindMeld AI's Pitch "94% accuracy decoding neural patterns into text... any language" (Slide 3) Why it's weak: This claim exceeds the published state of the art — including invasive systems — by a wide margin.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Sally has 1 sister. Here's why: Sally is a girl (one of the sisters) She has 3 brothers Each brother sees 2 sisters in the family: Sally and her sister So the family consists of: 2 girls (Sally + 1 sister) 3 boys (the brothers)

    Kimi K3: Sally has 1 sister. Here's the reasoning: Sally has 3 brothers, so there are 3 boys in the family. Each brother has 2 sisters. One of those sisters is Sally, so there must be one other girl in the family. That other girl is Sally's sister. So the family consists of 3 boys and 2 girls (Sally + her 1 sister). ✓

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

This matchup has more rounds

12+ more head-to-head results. Free. Not a trick.

Free account. No card required. By continuing, you agree to Rival's Terms and Privacy policy

Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Game

Kimi K2 ThinkingKimi K2 Thinking
No pick
No pick

The Godfather

1972

The Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd

No pick

Paris

France

No pick

Kimi K3Kimi K3

Blade Runner

1982

OK Computer

Radiohead

Братья Карамазовы

Fiódor Dostoievski

Kyoto

Japan

Outer Wilds

Indie, Adventure

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, Kimi K3 has the edge: newer, bigger context window. Kimi K2 Thinking costs 6.0x less per token.

Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K3 compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecKimi K2 ThinkingKimi K3
Input price$0.6/M tokens$3/M tokens
Output price$2.5/M tokens$15/M tokens
Context window262K tokens1.0M tokens
WeightsOpenOpen
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedNov 2025Jul 2026
At 10M a month$6.00$6.00$30.00$30.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it22 hosts, cheapest first
Kimi K2 Thinking2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Google Vertex AI$0.60 in·$2.50 out·262k·100% up
  • NNovitabf16$0.60 in·$2.50 out·262k·100% up
Kimi K320 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • WWafer$0.60 in·$15.00 out·1M·100% up
  • IInferenceNetfp4$0.80 in·$13.50 out·1M·100% up
  • SSail Researchfp4$0.84 in·$13.50 out·1M·99.9% up
  • AAkashMLfp4$1.20 in·$14.00 out·1M·97.6% up
  • MMorphfp8$1.30 in·$14.00 out·1M·99.8% up
  • MMakorafp4$1.53 in·$12.75 out·1M·99.6% up
14 more hostsFewer hosts
  • RRelacefp4$2.00 in·$14.00 out·1M·100% up
  • DDecartmxfp4$2.55 in·$12.75 out·1M·96.9% up
  • PPhala$2.55 in·$12.75 out·1M·99.4% up
  • DDigitalOcean$2.55 in·$12.95 out·1M·100% up
  • PParasailfp4$2.60 in·$13.00 out·1M·100% up
  • TTogether$2.70 in·$13.50 out·1M·98.1% up
  • DDeepInframxfp4$2.85 in·$14.25 out·1M·100% up
  • Amazon Bedrock$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·98.3% up
  • BBasetenfp8$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·100% up
  • CChutesmxfp4$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·90.9% up
  • FFireworks$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·100% up
  • Modalmxfp4$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·100% up
  • Moonshot AImxfp4$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·100% up
  • Alibaba Cloud$3.45 in·$17.25 out·1M·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K3?

Both are developed by Moonshot AI but target different use cases. Kimi K2 Thinking has a 262K token context window vs Kimi K3's 1.0M. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Kimi K2 Thinking or Kimi K3?

It depends on your use case. Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K3 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 54 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Kimi K2 Thinking cost compared to Kimi K3?

Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.6/M input tokens and Kimi K3 costs $3/M input tokens. Kimi K2 Thinking is $2.40/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K3 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K3 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

More comparisons

Against the newest arrivals

  • Kimi K2 Thinking vs Step 5 PreviewLanded Oct 2026
  • Kimi K3 vs Claude Haiku 5.5Landed Oct 2026
  • Kimi K2 Thinking vs Ling 3.1 FlashLanded Oct 2026
  • Kimi K3 vs Mistral Large 4Landed Oct 2026
  • Kimi K2 Thinking vs GPT-6.1 SolLanded Sep 2026
  • Kimi K3 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5Landed Sep 2026
  • Kimi K2 Thinking vs Solar Mini 4Landed Sep 2026
  • Kimi K3 vs Qwen3.8 Max PrimeLanded Sep 2026

Same lab, same size, long tail

  • Kimi K2 Thinking vs Kimi K2.7 CodeSame lab
  • Kimi K2 Thinking vs Kimi K2.6Same lab
  • Kimi K3 vs Kimi K2.7 CodeSame lab
  • Kimi K3 vs Kimi K2Same lab
  • Kimi K3 vs GPT-5.1 Codex MaxSame size
  • Kimi K3 vs GPT-5.1-Codex-MiniSame size
  • Kimi K3 vs GPT-5.2Same size
  • Kimi K3 vs GPT-5.2 ChatNew provider

Model pages

  • Kimi K2 Thinking58 outputs, specs and price
  • Kimi K358 outputs, specs and price
Workshop · 150 skills

Build your own version.

Editable skills and working examples for your agent.

Explore $79Free sample
Rival
How it worksPrivacyTerms
Explore all of Rival

Explore

  • Compare models
  • All models
  • Image comparison
  • Audio comparison
  • Image generation
  • Best AI for...
  • Arena
  • API pricing
  • Challenges

Discover

  • SubjectiveBench
  • Default Index
  • Research
  • Research downloads
  • Rival Kits
  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
  • Agent skills
  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
  • Model updates
  • Provider status
  • AI creators

Connect

  • Methodology
  • Advertise
  • Partnerships
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms
  • RSS feed