Model comparison

Kimi K3 vs Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B

Kimi K3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 43.2 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B costs 4.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.

Kimi K3 Moonshot AI

59.5

Rank #15 Confirmed

Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B Alibaba (Qwen)

43.2

Rank #95 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Kimi K3 scores higher in 8 categories and Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B in 1 category; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where Kimi K3 leads 74.2 to 39.0.
  • Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B is cheaper at $0.70 / $2.80 per million input/output tokens, against $3 / $15 for Kimi K3.
  • Kimi K3 accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 131K.

Side by side

Kimi K3 and Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B specifications
Kimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
ProviderMoonshot AIAlibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index59.543.2
Released2026-07-162025-04
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window1.05M131K
Max output1.05M33K
Input $ / M tokens$3$0.70
Output $ / M tokens$15$2.80
Results tracked5318

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Category by category

Coding Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 61.0 (#10), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 42.4 (#100)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Coding15081439
DeepSWE68.5%—
FrontierCode44.2%—
LMArena WebDev1654—
FrontierSWE25.9%—
SciCode59.5%—
WeirdML82.6%—
ALE-Bench1,524—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Kimi K3: 41.8 (#20), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
APEX-Agents50.6%—
τ²-bench Banking37.1%—
PostTrainBench32%—
GBAEval48.3%—
GDP.pdf19%—
Vending-Bench 25,165—

Reasoning Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 63.0 (#17), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 29.3 (#92)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Hard Prompts14961428
ARC-AGI-260.4%—
SimpleBench60.7%—
NYT Connections (extended)93.6%—
ARC-AGI-194.5%—
CritPt23.4%—
Chess Puzzles39%—
Mystery Game Puzzles26%—
DTBench91.2%—
LMCA52.7%—
Surface Evolver Bench95%—
Epoch Capabilities Index157.45—
ForecastBench61.1—

Math Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 74.2 (#16), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 39.0 (#118)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Math14911426
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)72.2%—
FrontierMath Tier 439%—
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions87.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202597.2%—
ProofBench87%—

Knowledge Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 63.2 (#21), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 40.3 (#121)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Expert15211442
GPQA Diamond93.1%—
SimpleQA Verified50.6%—

Multimodal Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B leads

Kimi K3: 37.8 (#70), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 39.8 (#55)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Vision—1247
Blueprint-Bench 229.5%—
Furniture Assembly34.2%—

Multilingual Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 56.3 (#21), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 51.9 (#97)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Non-English14661405
LMArena Chinese15291463
LMArena French14911452
LMArena German14881424
LMArena Japanese14871385
LMArena Korean14581394
LMArena Russian14821408
LMArena Spanish14721428

Instruction Following Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 77.7 (#14), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 74.2 (#101)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Instruction Following14831406

Long Context Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 45.8 (#29), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 43.4 (#98)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Longer Query14941420

Writing & Preference Kimi K3 leads

Kimi K3: 76.6 (#4), Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B: 60.2 (#99)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B
LMArena Text14761420
LMArena Creative Writing14541366
LMArena Multi-Turn14881428
EQ-Bench Creative Writing2082—
EQ-Bench 41339—

Frequently asked questions

Is Kimi K3 better than Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B?

Kimi K3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 59.5 to 43.2 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B costs 4.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Kimi K3 or Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B?

Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B is cheaper. It lists at $0.70 per million input tokens and $2.80 per million output tokens; Kimi K3 lists at $3 and $15.

Is Kimi K3 or Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B better for coding?

Kimi K3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 61.0 versus 42.4 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Kimi K3 does, with 1.05M tokens against 131K.

How many benchmarks do Kimi K3 and Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B share?

17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Kimi K3 has 53 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3-VL 235B-A22B has 18.

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