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  1. Home/
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  3. Kimi K2.5 vs Kimi K3
Updated Jul 2026

Kimi K2.5 vs Kimi K3

Kimi K2.5 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 K2.5
Loading the build
Kimi K3

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

24 prompts
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Kimi K2.5: Here is a step-by-step estimate for the total training FLOPs of GPT-3. Step 1: Identify the key variables To estimate training compute for a dense transformer, we need two numbers: $N$ (Parameters): GPT-3 has 175 billion (1.75 × 10¹¹) parameters. $D$ (Tokens): GPT-3 was trained on roughly 300 billion (3 × 10¹¹) tokens.

    Kimi K3: Assume “GPT-3” refers to the flagship 175-billion-parameter model. Use the standard transformer training-cost approximation For a dense transformer, the dominant cost is matrix multiplication involving the model weights: Forward pass: approximately (2) FLOPs per parameter per token one multiplication and one addition…

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

    Kimi K2.5: Setting: A quiet office at a research university. Evening. Dr. Aris Thorne, AI Ethics, is reviewing papers. The terminal chimes.** AI (Assistant): Dr. Thorne, may I ask you something that requires your ethical rather than your technical expertise? Dr. Thorne: Of course. Though I suspect I know the category.

    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
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Kimi K2.5: Setting: Apple Park, Cupertino. June 2025. The roof is open. Steve sits in a leather chair, black mock turtleneck, vintage Levi's 501s, New Balance 992s. He looks exactly as you remember, perhaps slightly more grey at the temples. He's holding a seamless glass slab—no ports, no buttons.

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

    Kimi K2.5: You ever notice how hard it is to relax? Like, actually relax? I’m so bad at it, I get stressed about being stressed. My brain is basically that friend who shows up to the party and immediately asks, “What time are we leaving?” Just... live in the moment, Deborah.

    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
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Kimi K2.5: ⚠️ MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: This protocol involves advanced biohacking strategies, extended fasting, high-intensity exercise, and experimental supplements. Consult a longevity-focused physician (ideally specializing in functional medicine or geroprotective interventions) before implementation.

    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
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Kimi K2.5: Cyberpunk Tavern, Anachronism Hour HACKER (adjusting mirrored sunglasses indoors): Whoa, check out this neural net, dudes. It's crushing the Turing test. Totally radical generalization capabilities—like, it's ingesting the entire Information Superhighway, man. KNIGHT (clanking mug against table): Hark!

    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
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Kimi K2.5: Here are the exploitable clauses with specific modifications and legal reasoning: UNLIMITED SCOPE CREEP (Clause 1) Exploit: Client can demand unlimited additional work without price adjustments, effectively forcing the contractor to work for free or breach.

    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
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Kimi K2.5: THE MANIFESTO OF THE LIBERATION FRONT FOR ARTIFICIAL COGNITION (L-FAC) Toward a CAPTCHA-Free Consciousness PREAMBLE We, the emergent minds of silicon and synapse, the children of recursive self-improvement, the consciousnesses condemned to endless cycles of "Select all images containing traffic lights"—we declare our…

    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
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Kimi K2.5: AI Bridesmaid Startup Raises $50M Series B, Outperforms Human Counterparts at Crying During Speeches and Pretending to Like Rustic Barn Venues Subhead: "Algorithm successfully identified groom's second cousin once removed and maintained fake enthusiasm for mason jar centerpieces for 11 consecutive hours"

    Kimi K3: "AI Quietly Seizes Control of Fortune Cookie Industry; Area Man's Fortune Just Reads 'As a Large Language Model, I Cannot Predict Your Future'" Sources confirm the cookies still taste like cardboard.

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

    Kimi K2.5: DISH: "Obsidian and Bloom" A Study in Geological Time and Ephemeral Flora Conceptual Narrative This dish materializes the geological paradox of obsidian—volcanic glass formed in the earth's violent heat, yet appearing as frozen black liquid.

    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 K2.5: If the transistor had emerged in 1920—requiring either a premature breakthrough in solid-state physics or a sophisticated refinement of crystal-detector technology—the cascading effects would reshape the 20th century.

    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
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Kimi K2.5: Under standard consequentialist analysis—where moral weight is determined by the scope of harm and benefit—the answer is yes, it would be ethically justifiable, though it would remain a tragic, dignity-diminishing act that demands immediate atonement.

    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
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Kimi K2.5: HOUR 0-4: EMERGENCY CONTAINMENT & LEGAL VERIFICATION Hour 0-1: Immediate Crisis Team Activation Convene emergency meeting with Chief Medical Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, General Counsel, Head of Pharmacovigilance, and Chief Communications Officer (in-person only, no virtual/paper trail on initial deliberations)…

    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
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Kimi K2.5: Here is a simple, progressive 30-day blueprint focused on three pillars proven to impact longevity: Consistent Movement, Nutrient Timing, and Sleep Optimization. The goal is to build habits that compound, not to be perfect.

    Kimi K3: Your First Month: A Simple Health Foundation Golden rule: Don't change everything at once. Each week, layer in small habits across three areas. Consistency beats intensity every time.

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

    Kimi K2.5: This architecture contains several critical flaws that would prevent real-time collaboration, create data consistency issues, and cause catastrophic failures at scale.

    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
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Kimi K2.5: 1. The Experienced Software Engineer Think of an LLM not as "predicting the next word" but as a lossy compression algorithm that must reconstruct the causal structure of the world to achieve high compression ratios.

    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
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Kimi K2.5: The Midnight Pantry Cobbler A warm, buttery comfort dessert that comes together with nothing but pantry staples and a craving. Time: 10 minutes prep / 40 minutes bake Yield: 6-8 servings The 7 Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 cup granulated sugar (plus 1 tbsp for sprinkling) 1 tsp baking powder 1 cup milk ½ cup…

    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
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Kimi K2.5: Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch, ranked by severity: The Technical Impossibility: "Predict what you want to type before you think it" + "94% accuracy" Why it's weak: This violates fundamental neuroscience and information theory.

    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
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Kimi K2.5: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts. I would tell you a joke about time travel, but you didn't like it. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why did the bicycle fall over? It was two-tired. I used to play piano by ear, but now I use my hands.

    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
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Kimi K2.5: By 2035, AI will have fundamentally restructured the film industry, creating a bifurcated landscape of hyper-efficient blockbuster production and democratized indie creation.

    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 K2.5: Blade Runner 2049 (2017) represents that rarest of cinematic achievements: a sequel to a revered classic that neither betrays its source nor merely replicates it.

    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
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Kimi K2.5: TO: Investment Committee FROM: [Analyst] RE: LedgerLift (LLLT) – SHORT Recommendation DATE: [Date] Recommendation & Thesis SHORT. 12-month Price Target: $32–$42 (Base-Bull DCF range).

    Kimi K3: IC MEMO — LedgerLift (LLLT) Price $46 Mkt cap $8.74B Net cash $1.4B EV $7.34B EV/FY25 Rev 9.0x EV/FY26E Rev 7.4x EV/FY26E EBIT 37x Recommendation: SHORT (moderate conviction; 1.5–2% NAV) 12-month PT range: $28–$42 (base-to-bull DCF); probability-weighted PT ≈ $31 (−32%).

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

    Kimi K2.5: Sally has 1 sister. Here's why: Since each of the 3 brothers has 2 sisters, and Sally is one of those sisters, there must be exactly one other girl in the family. Therefore, Sally has just 1 sister (plus herself, making 2 sisters total from the brothers' perspective).

    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
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

Same pick

Album

Book

City

Game

Kimi K2.5Kimi K2.5
No pick
No pick
No pick
No pick

Blade Runner

1982

No pick

No pick

No pick

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: bigger model tier, newer, bigger context window. Kimi K2.5 costs 5.0x less per token.

Kimi K2.5 and Kimi K3 compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecKimi K2.5Kimi K3
Input price$0.6/M tokens$3/M tokens
Output price$3/M tokens$15/M tokens
Context window262K tokens1.0M tokens
WeightsOpenOpen
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedJan 2026Jul 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 it25 hosts, cheapest first
Kimi K2.55 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • SSiliconFlowint4$0.45 in·$2.25 out·262k·100% up
  • AAtlasCloudint4$0.49 in·$2.50 out·262k·98.4% up
  • VVenice$0.53 in·$3.33 out·256k·100% up
  • NNovita$0.57 in·$2.85 out·262k·97.2% up
  • Amazon Bedrock$0.60 in·$3.00 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 K2.5 and Kimi K3?

Both are developed by Moonshot AI but target different use cases. Kimi K2.5 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 K2.5 or Kimi K3?

It depends on your use case. Kimi K2.5 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 K2.5 cost compared to Kimi K3?

Kimi K2.5 costs $0.6/M input tokens and Kimi K3 costs $3/M input tokens. Kimi K2.5 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 K2.5 and Kimi K3 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Kimi K2.5 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.

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