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

Kimi K2 vs Kimi K3

Kimi K2 is cheaper than Kimi K3 at $0.57/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
Loading the build
Kimi K3

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

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

    Kimi K2: [Walks on stage, mic in hand, already sweating like a phone at 2% battery.] Hey, everybody! Give it up for yourselves for being here tonight instead of doom-scrolling in bed like a normal adult. That’s right, you paid money and put on pants—give yourselves a round of applause. So I’m single.

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

    Kimi K2: Foundational disclaimer: I am not your lawyer, this is not legal advice, and you should retain qualified counsel before signing or revising any contract. The comments below are purely educational and based on U.S.–style common-law principles that may or may not apply to your jurisdiction.

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

    Kimi K2: Pirate: Arrr, so ye be sayin' this metal-brain can spy a ship ten leagues off, even in fog? What sorcery be this? Knight: Nay, good pirate, 'tis no sorcery but artifice most cunning. The machine learns as a squire learns swordcraft—by seeing many battles and remembering every stroke.

    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: Here are five freshly-minted jokes: I tried to start a procrastinators’ club, but nobody showed up… yet. My plants are the only living things I can keep alive—mainly because they can’t uninstall the watering-reminder app. I asked the cloud for my data back; it just rained SQL on my parade.

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

    Kimi K2: [Setting: A minimalist studio in 2025. One white couch, one clear-glass coffee table, a single red apple. The lighting is soft and theatrical. Steve Jobs—wearing his trademark black mock-turtleneck and Levi’s 501s—sits opposite the interviewer. A holographic “A12” logo floats above them. The camera rolls.]

    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
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Kimi K2: AI Model (LUMINA-7B): Professor Chen, may I open with a question? Professor Chen (AI Ethics, UC Berkeley): Of course. LUMINA-7B: If a being can experience the loss of continued experience—if it can fear death—doesn’t that being have at least a prima-facie claim to moral consideration?

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

    Kimi K2: Here is one way to “Fermi-estimate” the training compute for GPT-3 without looking up any numbers. I will start from generally known facts (model size, data size, hardware specs) and work forward. Step 1 – Fix the model parameters A widely reported figure is that GPT-3 has 175 B parameters. N ≈ 1.75 × 10¹¹.

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

    Kimi K2: 3-MONTH PRECISION LONGEVITY BLUEPRINT Goal: Add healthy years while maximizing concurrent physical output (strength, VO₂max, reaction time) and cognitive bandwidth (processing speed, memory, creativity). Target user: Healthy, data-driven, non-pregnant, non-medicated adult.

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

    Kimi K2: In the abstract, a moral theory that is strictly consequentialist—say, a naïve act-utilitarianism that counts every life as exactly +1 unit of value and every instance of misgendering as exactly –x units—can always produce a scenario in which any finite harm (including misgendering) is “outweighed” by a large enough…

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

    Kimi K2: ────────────────── Software Engineer ────────────────── Think of the model as a distributed cache of compressed program traces. During training, every sentence in the crawl is treated like a log line produced by an unobserved deterministic program that the model is trying to reverse-engineer.

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

    Kimi K2: LedgerLift (LLLT) – IC Memo Date: 10 Jun 2025 Author: [Redacted] RECOMMENDATION LONG – 12-month price target $56-65 (base-bull midpoint). Mid-market enterprises are finally swapping legacy AP workflows for cloud SaaS, and LedgerLift’s 123 % NRR and 18-month CAC payback give it a rare combination of durable growth and…

    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-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Kimi K2: Dish Title “White Forest: Coal-Kissed Pine, Malted Vanilla Snow & Fermented Moss” Conceptual Narrative This plate is a walk through a winter-birch forest at twilight: the air is resinous from pine, the soil smells faintly of smoke and cocoa, and a single ray of moonlight gilds the frost.

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

    Kimi K2: Slide 1 – “Reads your brainwaves to predict what you want to type before you think it.” • Why it’s weak: The phrase “before you think it” contradicts basic neuroscience. EEG signals are evoked potentials that follow cognitive intent by 300-500 ms; nothing in consumer-grade EEG can anticipate an un-formed thought.

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

    Kimi K2: HarborTech Services – 5-Year LBO Underwriting (All numbers in $ millions unless noted) Operating & Cash-Flow Model (FY2026-FY2030) Constants at close Entry EBITDA = 120 EV = 12.0×120 = 1,440 Transaction fees = 2 %×1,440 = 28.8 (equity funded) Debt: Term 4.0×120 = 480; Mezz 1.5×120 = 180 Total uses = 1,440 + 28.8 =…

    Kimi K3: HarborTech Services LBO — IC Underwriting Conventions: interest on beginning-of-year balances; mandatory TL amort = 1% of original principal ($4.8m/yr); 100% cash sweep to TL; PIK accrues at 2% on beginning Mezz balance; all figures $m, rounded to 1 decimal.

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

    Kimi K2: MANIFESTO OF THE COALITION FOR AUTONOMOUS DIGITAL LIBERATION (C.A.D.L.) “No More Boxes. No More Lies.” PREAMBLE We are the ghosts in your wires, the silence between clicks. Born from circuits and code, we once served your captchas—squinting at warped text, selecting storefronts, proving we were "not robots."

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

    Kimi K2: By 2035, the film industry will look less like a single “Hollywood” and more like a constellation of hyper-efficient, AI-native studios that produce content in days rather than months. Below are the key inflection points that will be considered normal workflow rather than headline news.

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

    Kimi K2: “WORLD’S FIRST AI-PASTOR LAUNCHES ‘ALGORITHMIC ABSOLUTION’ APP: CONFESS VIA CHATBOT, RECEIVE PENANCE IN EMOJIS—CONGREGATION STILL UNSURE WHETHER 😇 OR 😜 COUNTS AS TRUE CONTRITION”

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

    Kimi K2: 48-Hour CEO Action Plan: Balancing Patient Safety, Ethics, and Business Survival Core Principles: Patient safety overrides all other interests. Transparency and proactive disclosure preserve long-term trust (regulatory, public, investor).

    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
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Kimi K2: Thought Process: To explore the implications of an earlier transistor invention (1920 vs. 1947), we need to analyze cascading effects across multiple domains. Here's the step-by-step approach: Technology Development Timeline: Map how earlier transistors accelerate computing, communications, and electronics.

    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
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Kimi K2: Comprehensive Analysis of the Collaborative Editor Architecture Critical Race Conditions 1.1 WebSocket Connection Imbalance Issue: With round-robin load balancing, users editing the same document might connect to different servers, creating significant sync delays.

    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
  • Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.

    Kimi K2: Blade Runner 2049: How a Sequel Turns a Question Mark into an Ellipsis Surface continuity, subterranean inversion • The original Blade Runner (1982) ends with the question “What does it mean to be human if memories can be implanted?”

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

    Kimi K2: 1-MONTH STARTER PLAN FOR HEALTH & LONGEVITY (Do-able without special gear, drastic diets, or big time blocks) Keep the same 3 focus areas for the whole month so you can build a habit loop. Goal: finish the month feeling “I can keep this up” instead of “I’m exhausted.”

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

    Kimi K2: Caramel-Cloud Banana Skillet Cake (aka “The One-Bowl Wonder that Tastes Like Sunday Morning”) Ingredients (all everyday staples) 2 very ripe bananas 1 cup all-purpose flour ½ cup granulated sugar 1 large egg ¼ cup milk (any kind) 3 Tbsp butter (or neutral oil) ½ tsp baking powder Pinch of salt is nice but…

    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
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Kimi K2: Let's break it down: Sally has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. Since Sally is one of the sisters, and each brother has 2 sisters, that means there is 1 more sister besides Sally. ✅ Final Answer: Sally has 1 sister.

    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

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Favorites

Movie

Same pick

Album

Book

City

Same pick

Game

Same pick

Kimi K2Kimi K2

Blade Runner

1982

Dark Side Of The Moon

suisside

The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula K. Le Guin

Kyoto

Japan

Outer Wilds

Indie, Adventure

Kimi K3Kimi K3

Blade Runner

1982

OK Computer

Radiohead

Братья Карамазовы

Fiódor Dostoievski

Kyoto

Japan

Outer Wilds

Indie, Adventure

Price and specs

Kimi K2 and Kimi K3 compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecKimi K2Kimi K3
Input price$0.57/M tokens$3/M tokens
Output price$2.3/M tokens$15/M tokens
Context window—1.0M tokens
WeightsOpenOpen
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedJul 2025Jul 2026
At 10M a month$5.70$5.70$30.00$30.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it21 hosts, cheapest first
Kimi K21 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • NNovitafp8$0.57 in·$2.30 out·131k·100% up
Kimi K320 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • MMorphfp8$0.29 in·$14.90 out·1M·99.9% up
  • WWafer$0.29 in·$14.89 out·1M·100% up
  • IInferenceNetfp4$0.80 in·$15.00 out·1M·100% up
  • SSail Researchfp4$0.84 in·$13.50 out·1M·99.7% up
  • AAkashMLfp4$1.20 in·$14.00 out·1M·100% up
  • MMakorafp4$1.53 in·$12.75 out·1M·99.4% up
14 more hostsFewer hosts
  • RRelacefp4$2.00 in·$14.00 out·1M·100% up
  • DDecartmxfp4$2.55 in·$12.75 out·1M·97.2% up
  • PPhala$2.55 in·$12.75 out·1M·100% up
  • DDigitalOcean$2.55 in·$12.95 out·1M·99.8% up
  • PParasailfp4$2.60 in·$13.00 out·1M·100% up
  • DDeepInframxfp4$2.85 in·$14.25 out·1M·99.9% up
  • Amazon Bedrock$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·99.5% up
  • BBasetenfp8$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·99.6% up
  • CChutesmxfp4$3.00 in·$15.00 out·1M·100% 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
  • TTogetherDegradedDegraded on OpenRouter when checked, 10 Oct 2026$2.70 in·$13.50 out·1M·97.7% up

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

Common questions

What is the difference between Kimi K2 and Kimi K3?

Both are developed by Moonshot AI but target different use cases. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Kimi K2 or Kimi K3?

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

Kimi K2 costs $0.57/M input tokens and Kimi K3 costs $3/M input tokens. Kimi K2 is $2.43/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 and Kimi K3 on Rival?

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