Compare / MiniMax vs Moonshot AI

AI labs compared · October 2026

MiniMax vs Moonshot AI: which AI lab is ahead?

Each lab's best model on sale goes head to head on every kind of work we measure, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. 12 models in all; a lab is only as good as the model you would actually pick from it.

5 models on sale with our resultsMiniMax Best: MiniMax-M3 · newest: MiniMax-M3
7 models on sale with our resultsMoonshot AI Best: Kimi K3 · newest: Kimi K3
MiniMax wins 0Moonshot AI wins 5

Kinds of work led by each lab's best model there, of the 5 both are measured on.

Results as of 8 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-08-4199ce0620fe). Models on sale means listed on OpenRouter today.

MiniMax or Moonshot AI? The short answer

Moonshot AI is ahead: its best models beat MiniMax's in all 5 kinds of work both are measured on.

  • Pick Moonshot AI for agents and tool use, professional work, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
  • Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 is #10 on our overall leaderboard; no MiniMax model has enough of our results to be ranked there yet.
  • Prices start at $0.52 per million tokens for MiniMax (MiniMax-M3) and $1.00 for Moonshot AI (Kimi K2 (0711)).

Head to head

29.2MiniMax-M3
Best Intelligence Index
43.6Kimi K3
$0.52MiniMax-M3
Flagship price, per million tokens
$6.00Kimi K3
$0.52MiniMax-M3
Cheapest model, per million tokens
$1.00Kimi K2 (0711)
5
Models on sale with our results
7

Each line names the model behind the number. Prices are blended, three input tokens to one output, at the developer's list price where we have read it; see every model's price. Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis; overall score from our leaderboard.

Which lab is better for what

For each kind of work, each lab's best model there and its rank among every model on sale. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live not measured 13 of 20Kimi K3
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is not measured 8 of 19Kimi K3
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending not measured 8 of 19Kimi K3
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 74 of 164MiniMax-M3 19 of 164Kimi K2 (0711)
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects 39 of 51MiniMax-M3 24 of 51Kimi K3
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 38 of 198MiniMax-M3 15 of 198Kimi K3
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 66 of 188MiniMax-M3 11 of 188Kimi K3
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 95 of 152MiniMax-M3 28 of 152Kimi K3
Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) not measured 19 of 22Kimi K3

Every model, by intelligence and price

Each dot is a model on sale with an Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis. Up is smarter; left is cheaper. Hover or tap a dot for its name.

MiniMaxMoonshot AI

01020304050 $0.1$1$10 Price per million tokens, blended (log scale) Intelligence Index MiniMax-M3MiniMax-M2.7Kimi K3Kimi K2.6Kimi K2.7 CodeKimi K2.5

On our overall leaderboard

The 1 of their models we rank overall: one score out of 100 across everything we publish (how the score works). Only models with enough of our own results are ranked.

  1. #10Kimi K350

Benchmark by benchmark

The headline result of every benchmark both labs have models on: each lab's best model and its rank among the models on sale. Green marks the better rank.

MeasureMiniMaxMoonshot AI
Agents and tool use
OpenHands Index · Average% resolved, higher is better 57.2%MiniMax-M3 · 13 of 3357.1%Kimi K2.6 · 14 of 33
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 2.0%MiniMax-M3 · 44 of 10512.6%Kimi K3 · 29 of 105
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 65.2%MiniMax-M3 · 37 of 11585.0%Kimi K3 · 11 of 115
Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 15.3%MiniMax-M3 · 55 of 11346.0%Kimi K3 · 9 of 113
Vending-Bench 2 · Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better $2,158MiniMax-M3 · 39 of 56$6,205Kimi K2.6 · 15 of 56
Professional work
APEX-Agents · Tasks passed% of tasks, higher is better 37.7%MiniMax-M3 · 30 of 3750.6%Kimi K3 · 21 of 37
Reasoning and knowledge
Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 29.2MiniMax-M3 · 50 of 19843.6Kimi K3 · 16 of 198
Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 39.0%MiniMax-M3 · 41 of 19746.9%Kimi K3 · 16 of 197
Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 92.9%MiniMax-M3 · 14 of 18793.5%Kimi K3 · 10 of 187
Sticking to the facts
Vectara Hallucination Leaderboard · Hallucination rate · Vectara% of summaries, lower is better 9.1%MiniMax-M2.5 · 34 of 7910.8%Kimi K2.6 · 52 of 79
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 1,434MiniMax-M3 · 69 of 1131,472Kimi K3 · 16 of 113
Writing
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 1,440MiniMax-M3 · 63 of 1661,488Kimi K3 · 11 of 166
UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 41.7MiniMax-M2.5 · 80 of 13864.4Kimi K2.6 · 25 of 138

Quick answers

Is MiniMax or Moonshot AI better?

Moonshot AI is ahead: its best models beat MiniMax's in all 5 kinds of work both are measured on.

What is MiniMax's best model?

MiniMax-M3: 29.2 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

What is Moonshot AI's best model?

Kimi K3: #10 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 43.6 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

Which is better for agents and tool use, MiniMax or Moonshot AI?

Moonshot AI: its best model there, Kimi K2 (0711), ranks 19 of 164 models on sale, against 74 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, MiniMax or Moonshot AI?

Moonshot AI: its best model there, Kimi K3, ranks 15 of 198 models on sale, against 38 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.

Which is better for writing, MiniMax or Moonshot AI?

Moonshot AI: its best model there, Kimi K3, ranks 11 of 188 models on sale, against 66 for MiniMax's MiniMax-M3.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax or Moonshot AI?

MiniMax's cheapest model with results, MiniMax-M3, costs $0.52 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $1.00 for Kimi K2 (0711) from Moonshot AI.

Other labs compared

Which model is best for your product?

Benchmarks aren't your data. We test the models from MiniMax, Moonshot AI and the rest on your own tasks, with the cost of every answer.

Talk to usSee the leaderboard