Compare / Qwen3.6-Plus vs Kimi K3
Qwen3.6-Plus vs Kimi K3
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 16 results on 4 sources that measured both models.
Of the 16 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.
Results as of 13 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-13-2e2420e3c5cc). See also Alibaba vs Moonshot AI, every model from both labs.
Qwen3.6-Plus or Kimi K3? The short answer
Pick Kimi K3 if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 43.6 against 27.0). Pick Qwen3.6-Plus if cost matters more: it costs 8.2 times less per token.
- Qwen3.6-Plus is cheaper: $0.73 against $6.00 per million tokens, 8.2 times less.
- Kimi K3 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 43.6 against 27.0.
- Kimi K3 is newer: released 16 Jul 2026, against 31 Mar 2026 for Qwen3.6-Plus.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Kimi K3 does better for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3.6-Plus | Kimi K3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.33 in · $1.95 out | $3.00 in · $15.00 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $0.73 | $6.00 |
| Cheapest host, blended | – | $3.70 (Morph, FP8) |
| Cached input, per million | – | $0.30 cached input |
| Intelligence Index | 27.0 | 43.6 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | 49 |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | 45 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Released | 31 Mar 2026 | 16 Jul 2026 (newer) |
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| Developer based in | China | China |
Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.
Which is better for what
Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.
From our research
Every shared result
Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Plus | Kimi K3 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 76 · 13 of 387 measured | 1,443 | 1,488max reasoning |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 84 · 20 of 163 measured | 1,438 | 1,472max reasoning |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 75 · 12 of 380 measured | 1,446 | 1,487max reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 62 · 17 of 243 measured | 27.0 | 43.6max reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 58 · 10 of 231 measured | 88.2% | 93.5%max reasoning |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 84 · 17 of 242 measured | 27.8% | 46.9%max reasoning |
| SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) reported by SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · 1 result | ||
| Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 38 · 23 of 76 measured | 44.1% | 50.6%max reasoning |
| Vending-Bench 2 reported by Vending-Bench 2 · 1 result | ||
| Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better 25 · 24 of 58 measured | $5,115 | $5,165 |
Show all 16 results (8 more)
| Measure | Qwen3.6-Plus | Kimi K3 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results | ||
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 82 · 20 of 385 measured | 1,407 | 1,460max reasoning |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 68 · 10 of 338 measured | 1,476 | 1,533max reasoning |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 74 · 11 of 387 measured | 1,435 | 1,488max reasoning |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 76 · 13 of 386 measured | 1,423 | 1,476max reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 47 · 12 of 130 measured | 61.4% | 85.0%max reasoning |
| τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 48 · 10 of 121 measured | 20.8% | 46.0%max reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis Coding Indexindex score, higher is better 50 · 10 of 131 measured | 54.5 | 76.2max reasoning |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 54 · 1 of 233 measured | 78.3% | 88.7%max reasoning |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3.6-Plus better than Kimi K3?
Pick Kimi K3 if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 43.6 against 27.0). Pick Qwen3.6-Plus if cost matters more: it costs 8.2 times less per token.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6-Plus or Kimi K3?
Qwen3.6-Plus is cheaper: $0.73 against $6.00 per million tokens, 8.2 times less.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.6-Plus or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3 ranks 34 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 63 for Qwen3.6-Plus.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.6-Plus or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3 ranks 15 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 67 for Qwen3.6-Plus.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3.6-Plus or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3 ranks 11 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 54 for Qwen3.6-Plus.
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3.6-Plus or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3 ranks 28 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 80 for Qwen3.6-Plus.
Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.6-Plus or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3: 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Qwen3.6-Plus.
Run Qwen3.6-Plus and Kimi K3 on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.