Compare / Moonshot AI vs xAI

AI labs compared · October 2026

Moonshot AI vs xAI: 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. 11 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
4 models on sale with our resultsxAI Best: Grok 4.7 · newest: Grok 4.7
Moonshot AI wins 4xAI wins 4

Kinds of work led by each lab's best model there, of the 8 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 xAI? The short answer

Moonshot AI and xAI are level: each lab's best model leads in 4 of the 8 kinds of work both are measured on.

  • Pick Moonshot AI for decks from an analysis, marketing planning, writing and sticking to the facts.
  • Pick xAI for product listings, agents and tool use, professional work and reasoning and knowledge.
  • On our overall leaderboard, Kimi K3 is #10 (50 of 100) and Grok 4.7 is #14 (43).
  • Prices start at $1.00 per million tokens for Moonshot AI (Kimi K2 (0711)) and $1.56 for xAI (Grok 4.3).

Head to head

50Kimi K3
Best Spring Prompt overall score
43Grok 4.7
43.6Kimi K3
Best Intelligence Index
46.4Grok 4.7
$6.00Kimi K3
Flagship price, per million tokens
$3.00Grok 4.7
$1.00Kimi K2 (0711)
Cheapest model, per million tokens
$1.56Grok 4.3
7
Models on sale with our results
4

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 4 of 20Grok 4.7
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is 8 of 19Kimi K3 9 of 19Grok 4.7
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending 8 of 19Kimi K3 11 of 19Grok 4.7
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 19 of 164Kimi K2 (0711) 10 of 164Grok 4.6
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects 24 of 51Kimi K3 16 of 51Grok 4.6
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 15 of 198Kimi K3 13 of 198Grok 4.6
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 11 of 188Kimi K3 40 of 188Grok 4.5
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 28 of 152Kimi K3 43 of 152Grok 4.5
Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) 19 of 22Kimi K3 not measured

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 AIxAI

01020304050 $1$10 Price per million tokens, blended (log scale) Intelligence Index Kimi K3Kimi K2.6Kimi K2.7 CodeGrok 4.7Grok 4.6Grok 4.5

On our overall leaderboard

The 2 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
  2. #14Grok 4.743

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 AIxAI
Agents and tool use
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 12.6%Kimi K3 · 29 of 10525.8%Grok 4.7 · 19 of 105
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 85.0%Kimi K3 · 11 of 11588.4%Grok 4.6 · 6 of 115
Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 46.0%Kimi K3 · 9 of 11350.7%Grok 4.6 · 1 of 113
Vending-Bench 2 · Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better $6,205Kimi K2.6 · 15 of 56$9,047Grok 4.6 · 6 of 56
Decks from an analysis
DeckBench · Deck ratingrating, higher is better 1,229Kimi K3 · 8 of 191,229Grok 4.7 · 9 of 19
Marketing planning
ROASBench · Overall scorescore out of 100, higher is better 44.1Kimi K3 · 8 of 1936.6Grok 4.7 · 11 of 19
Product listings
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready% of products, higher is better 41.1%Kimi K3 · 9 of 2057.1%Grok 4.7 · 4 of 20
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready · sales brief% of products, higher is better 1.8%Kimi K3 · 16 of 2033.9%Grok 4.7 · 5 of 20
Professional work
APEX-Agents · Tasks passed% of tasks, higher is better 50.6%Kimi K3 · 21 of 3765.3%Grok 4.6 · 6 of 37
GDP.pdf · Professional document tasks% of rubric, higher is better 19.0%Kimi K3 · 17 of 3117.2%Grok 4.6 · 19 of 31
Reasoning and knowledge
Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 43.6Kimi K3 · 16 of 19846.4Grok 4.7 · 11 of 198
Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 46.9%Kimi K3 · 16 of 19744.1%Grok 4.6 · 21 of 197
Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 93.5%Kimi K3 · 10 of 18794.9%Grok 4.6 · 3 of 187
Sticking to the facts
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 1,472Kimi K3 · 16 of 1131,465Grok 4.5 · 28 of 113
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 50.6%Kimi K3 · 23 of 7349.3%Grok 4.6 · 26 of 73
Writing
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 1,488Kimi K3 · 11 of 1661,466Grok 4.5 · 33 of 166
UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 64.4Kimi K2.6 · 25 of 13863.3Grok 4.6 · 29 of 138

Their models, one against one

Quick answers

Is Moonshot AI or xAI better?

Moonshot AI and xAI are level: each lab's best model leads in 4 of the 8 kinds of work both are measured on.

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 xAI's best model?

Grok 4.7: #14 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 46.4 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

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

xAI: its best model there, Grok 4.6, ranks 10 of 164 models on sale, against 19 for Moonshot AI's Kimi K2 (0711).

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

xAI: its best model there, Grok 4.6, ranks 13 of 198 models on sale, against 15 for Moonshot AI's Kimi K3.

Which is better for writing, Moonshot AI or xAI?

Moonshot AI: its best model there, Kimi K3, ranks 11 of 188 models on sale, against 40 for xAI's Grok 4.5.

Which is cheaper, Moonshot AI or xAI?

Moonshot AI's cheapest model with results, Kimi K2 (0711), costs $1.00 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $1.56 for Grok 4.3 from xAI.

Other labs compared

Which model is best for your product?

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

Talk to usSee the leaderboard