Compare / Moonshot AI vs OpenAI

AI labs compared · October 2026

Moonshot AI vs OpenAI: 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. 34 models in all; a lab is only as good as the model you would actually pick from it.

7 models on sale with our resultsMoonshot AI Best: Kimi K3 · newest: Kimi K3
27 models on sale with our resultsOpenAI Best: GPT-6.1 Sol · newest: GPT-6.1 Sol
Moonshot AI wins 1OpenAI wins 8

Kinds of work led by each lab's best model there, of the 9 both are measured on.

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

Moonshot AI or OpenAI? The short answer

OpenAI is ahead: its best models beat Moonshot AI's in 8 of the 9 kinds of work both are measured on; Moonshot AI leads in 1.

  • Pick Moonshot AI for writing.
  • Pick OpenAI for product listings, decks from an analysis, marketing planning, agents and tool use, professional work, reasoning and knowledge, sticking to the facts and speed under pressure.
  • On our overall leaderboard, GPT-6.1 Sol is #2 (81 of 100) and Kimi K3 is #10 (50).
  • Prices start at $1.00 per million tokens for Moonshot AI (Kimi K2 (0711)) and $0.060 for OpenAI (gpt-oss-20b).

Head to head

50Kimi K3
Best Spring Prompt overall score
81GPT-6.1 Sol
43.6Kimi K3
Best Intelligence Index
52.7GPT-6 Astra
$6.00Kimi K3
Flagship price, per million tokens
$4.00GPT-6.1 Sol
$1.00Kimi K2 (0711)
Cheapest model, per million tokens
$0.060gpt-oss-20b
7
Models on sale with our results
27

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 13 of 20Kimi K3 1 of 20GPT-6 Astra
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is 8 of 19Kimi K3 1 of 19GPT-6 Astra
User surveysPlanning a user survey and reading its results without being misled not measured 1 of 8GPT-6.1 Sol
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending 8 of 19Kimi K3 1 of 19GPT-6 Astra
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 19 of 164Kimi K2 (0711) 3 of 164GPT-6.1 Sol
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects 24 of 51Kimi K3 1 of 51GPT-5.6 Sol
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 15 of 198Kimi K3 3 of 198GPT-6 Astra
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 11 of 188Kimi K3 14 of 188GPT-5.5
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 28 of 152Kimi K3 18 of 152GPT-6.1 Sol
Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) 19 of 22Kimi K3 10 of 22GPT-6 Sol

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.

Moonshot AIOpenAI

0204060 $0.01$0.1$1$10$100 Price per million tokens, blended (log scale) Intelligence Index Kimi K3GPT-6.1 SolGPT-6 AstraGPT-6 SolGPT-5.6 SolGPT-5.6 Terra

On our overall leaderboard

The 5 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. #2GPT-6.1 Sol81
  2. #3GPT-6 Astra79
  3. #4GPT-6 Sol69
  4. #10Kimi K350
  5. #15GPT-6 Luna40

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.

MeasureMoonshot AIOpenAI
Agents and tool use
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) V4 · Overall accuracy · BFCL% correct, higher is better 59.1%Kimi K2 (0711) · 6 of 3863.1%o3 · 5 of 38
OpenHands Index · Average% resolved, higher is better 57.1%Kimi K2.6 · 14 of 3365.9%GPT-5.5 · 5 of 33
Microsoft STATE-Bench · Task success (pass@1) · STATE-Bench v0.7% of tasks, higher is better 48.3%Kimi K2.6 · 3 of 455.7%GPT-5.4 · 1 of 4
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 12.6%Kimi K3 · 29 of 10559.6%GPT-6 Astra · 2 of 105
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 85.0%Kimi K3 · 11 of 11589.9%GPT-6 Astra · 2 of 115
Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 46.0%Kimi K3 · 9 of 11344.3%GPT-5.6 Sol · 12 of 113
Vending-Bench 2 · Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better $6,205Kimi K2.6 · 15 of 56$15,515GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 56
Decks from an analysis
DeckBench · Deck ratingrating, higher is better 1,229Kimi K3 · 8 of 191,477GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 19
Marketing planning
ROASBench · Overall scorescore out of 100, higher is better 44.1Kimi K3 · 8 of 1956.6GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 19
Product listings
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready% of products, higher is better 41.1%Kimi K3 · 9 of 2075.0%GPT-6.1 Sol · 1 of 20
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready · sales brief% of products, higher is better 1.8%Kimi K3 · 16 of 2069.6%GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 20
Professional work
APEX-Agents · Tasks passed% of tasks, higher is better 50.6%Kimi K3 · 21 of 3764.7%GPT-6 Astra · 7 of 37
GDP.pdf · Professional document tasks% of rubric, higher is better 19.0%Kimi K3 · 17 of 3130.7%GPT-5.6 Sol · 1 of 31
Reasoning and knowledge
Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 43.6Kimi K3 · 16 of 19852.7GPT-6 Astra · 4 of 198
Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 46.9%Kimi K3 · 16 of 19754.7%GPT-6 Astra · 6 of 197
Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 93.5%Kimi K3 · 10 of 18796.3%GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 187
Speed under pressure
BulletBench · Ladder Elo · Bullet 60sladder Elo, higher is better 33Kimi K3 · 17 of 20445GPT-6 Sol · 10 of 20
Sticking to the facts
Vectara Hallucination Leaderboard · Hallucination rate · Vectara% of summaries, lower is better 10.8%Kimi K2.6 · 52 of 793.1%GPT-5.4 nano · 1 of 79
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 1,472Kimi K3 · 16 of 1131,486GPT-5.5 · 5 of 113
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 50.6%Kimi K3 · 23 of 7375.6%GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 73
Writing
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 1,488Kimi K3 · 11 of 1661,484GPT-5.6 Sol · 14 of 166
UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 64.4Kimi K2.6 · 25 of 13869.7GPT-5.5 · 11 of 138

Their models, one against one

Quick answers

Is Moonshot AI or OpenAI better?

OpenAI is ahead: its best models beat Moonshot AI's in 8 of the 9 kinds of work both are measured on; Moonshot AI leads in 1.

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.

What is OpenAI's best model?

GPT-6.1 Sol: #2 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 51.8 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

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

OpenAI: its best model there, GPT-6.1 Sol, ranks 3 of 164 models on sale, against 19 for Moonshot AI's Kimi K2 (0711).

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

OpenAI: its best model there, GPT-6 Astra, ranks 3 of 198 models on sale, against 15 for Moonshot AI's Kimi K3.

Which is better for writing, Moonshot AI or OpenAI?

Moonshot AI: its best model there, Kimi K3, ranks 11 of 188 models on sale, against 14 for OpenAI's GPT-5.5.

Which is cheaper, Moonshot AI or OpenAI?

OpenAI's cheapest model with results, gpt-oss-20b, costs $0.060 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 Moonshot AI, OpenAI and the rest on your own tasks, with the cost of every answer.

Talk to usSee the leaderboard