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GPT-5 mini vs Kimi K3

Updated October 2, 2026. Rank says Kimi K3 is ahead. Price, access, and your workload can each overturn that. Public scores include evidence status and uncertainty.

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Decision reading

The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict. Use the documented cost, context, and runtime rows instead. 0 results are shared. Category rows resting on Estimated evidence or different benchmark sets are marked directional and do not name a winner.

Model A
OpenAI logo

OpenAI

44.76/100

Supported · Public rank #110

90% interval 36.5–53.0

Model B
Moonshot AI logo

Moonshot AI

72.14/100

Supported · Public rank #15

90% interval 68.8–75.5

Shared results
0
GPT-5 mini only
1
Kimi K3 only
48
Like-for-like categories
0 / 8
Supported: GPT-5 mini and Kimi K3How the comparison works

Which one for your work

Recommendations appear only when a shared evidence basis or an explicit operating constraint supports the call. Secondary and unsupported use cases stay disclosed below the initial list.

  • Long documents

    Prompts that approach the documented context limit

    Kimi K3

    Kimi K3 has the larger documented context window.

    Confidence: documented
  • Chat turn cost

    1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

    GPT-5 mini

    GPT-5 mini has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Costs use the listed standard API rates.

    Confidence: listed-rates
Show secondary and unsupported calls
  • Repository review cost

    50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

    GPT-5 mini

    GPT-5 mini has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Costs use the listed standard API rates.

    Confidence: listed-rates
  • Coding work

    Code generation, repair, and software-engineering tasks

    Not enough matched evidence

    GPT-5 mini is scored on Estimated evidence for coding, so the reading is directional rather than like-for-like.

    Confidence: limited
  • Agentic work

    Tool use, computer use, and multi-step task completion

    Not enough matched evidence

    GPT-5 mini is scored on Estimated evidence for agentic, so the reading is directional rather than like-for-like.

    Confidence: limited
  • Cache-heavy agent loop cost

    200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

    Not enough matched evidence

    The page does not recommend a cost winner because at least one model cannot fit the stated workload in one request. GPT-5 mini does not fit this workload in one request. GPT-5 mini has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

    Confidence: rate-fallback

Which one for a specific job

Choose a job from the LLM Selector's task catalog to see the category row it rests on, under the same basis rules as the table below. A directional row stays directional; choosing a job never creates a winner.

The same task catalog as the LLM Selector. Each job names the evidence surface it rests on; nothing here adds a new score.

30.0GPT-5 mini61.4Kimi K3

Directional only · BenchAlign v5.8

Kimi K3 has the higher coding point estimate. Conditional score ranges do not establish rank confidence.

Coding scores combine specific tasks and setups. Match the editor, harness, and effort to your workflow.

Same basis rules as the category table below

What is actually comparable

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results present for only one model describe coverage, not superiority.

2 categories rest on Estimated evidence or different evidence sets. Those rows remain visible for coverage context but do not name a winner.

Shape of the matched evidence

Only shared public evidence is shown. Sparse evidence stays a ruled list rather than being closed into a radar shape.

A shared-evidence shape is not available.

BenchLM does not draw a radar or infer missing axes when the matched evidence is too sparse.

Category results, on a stated basis

Each row shows the public-lane category score for both models: the BenchAlign v5.8 lane for agentic, coding, and knowledge, and the weighted public rows elsewhere, with the same rank each model page reports. A row is like-for-like only when both scores rest on Supported evidence or the same weighted set. Directional and not-comparable rows remain visible, but they never receive a winner.

Agentic

Directional only
GPT-5 mini
27.7
Estimated · #89/119
Kimi K3
68.1
Supported · #8/119
Basis
BenchAlign v5.8 lane · 0 vs 12 public rows
Reading
Directional only

Coding

Directional only
GPT-5 mini
30.0
Estimated · #95/144
Kimi K3
61.4
Supported · #18/144
Basis
BenchAlign v5.8 lane · 1 vs 14 public rows
Reading
Directional only

Reasoning

Not comparable
GPT-5 mini
Not ranked
Kimi K3
65.8
#18/27
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 1 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multimodal

Not comparable
GPT-5 mini
Not ranked
Kimi K3
89.4
#1/49
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 3 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Knowledge

Not comparable
GPT-5 mini
Not ranked
Kimi K3
67.9
Supported · #18/171
Basis
BenchAlign v5.8 lane · 0 vs 6 public rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multilingual

Not comparable
GPT-5 mini
Not ranked
Kimi K3
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Instruction following

Not comparable
GPT-5 mini
Not ranked
Kimi K3
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Math

Not comparable
GPT-5 mini
Not ranked
Kimi K3
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Ranks count the models scored in each category’s lane, so the agentic, coding, and knowledge denominators (BenchAlign v5.8) differ from the provisional-lane categories. Unranked scores sit on the provisional lane’s scale but never name a winner. Like-for-like rows within 0.5 points read as a practical tie.

Supported evidence per lane · bars run 0–100Methodology

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes turn per-token rates into comparable decisions. Each scenario states context fit and whether cached input had to fall back to the published list-input rate.

Chat turn

1K fresh input + 500 output tokens

GPT-5 mini
$0.00125
Fits in one request
Kimi K3
$0.0105
Fits in one request

GPT-5 mini has the lower modeled cost

Costs use the listed standard API rates.

Repository review

50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

GPT-5 mini
$0.0185
Fits in one request
Kimi K3
$0.195
Fits in one request

GPT-5 mini has the lower modeled cost

Costs use the listed standard API rates.

Cache-heavy agent loop

200K cached + 20K fresh input + 10K output tokens

GPT-5 mini
$0.075
Does not fit in one request
Cached input priced at the published list-input rate
Kimi K3
$0.27
Fits in one request

GPT-5 mini does not fit this workload in one request. GPT-5 mini has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

Cached input falls back to the list input rate only where a cached rate is unpublished

Specification differences

Sourced differences are shown directly. Missing facts stay explicit instead of being inferred from a model name or family.

Context window

Maximum documented context; output-token limits may be lower.

GPT-5 mini

128K

Kimi K3

1.05M

API model ID

GPT-5 mini

Not sourced

Kimi K3

Not sourced

Cached-input rate

A missing cached-input rate falls back to the listed input rate only in the stated workload estimate.

GPT-5 mini

Not published

Kimi K3

$0.3 per 1M cached input tokens

Documented inputs

GPT-5 mini

Not sourced

Kimi K3

Not sourced

Documented outputs

GPT-5 mini

Not sourced

Kimi K3

Not sourced

Provider availability

GPT-5 mini

Not sourced

Kimi K3

Not sourced

Reasoning profile

GPT-5 mini

Reasoning

Kimi K3

Reasoning

Weight access

GPT-5 mini

Proprietary

Kimi K3

Pending

License

GPT-5 mini

Proprietary

Kimi K3

Pending

Release date

GPT-5 mini

2025-08-07

Kimi K3

2026-07-16

If you already use one of these models

Deployment change
The models list different providers, so authentication, endpoint behavior, limits, and feature support may change.
Quality signal
The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict.
Workload cost
Repository review: $0.0185 vs $0.195. Cache-heavy agent loop: $0.075 vs $0.27.
Context tradeoff
Kimi K3 has the larger documented window (1.05M).
Run the same representative tasks against both endpoints before changing production traffic.

Questions

Which is better, GPT-5 mini or Kimi K3?

The public evidence has no benchmark result shared by both models, so it does not support a quality verdict. The page therefore keeps the decision tied to the specific documented workload.

Which is better for coding, GPT-5 mini or Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 scores higher for coding on the public lane, 61.4 to 30. GPT-5 mini is scored on Estimated evidence for coding, so the reading is directional rather than like-for-like. BenchLM does not name a winner for coding from a directional reading; read the shared benchmark rows directly and test the models on the same task set.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GPT-5 mini or Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 scores higher for agentic tasks on the public lane, 68.1 to 27.7. GPT-5 mini is scored on Estimated evidence for agentic tasks, so the reading is directional rather than like-for-like. BenchLM does not name a winner for agentic tasks from a directional reading; read the shared benchmark rows directly and test the models on the same task set.

Which costs less, GPT-5 mini or Kimi K3?

For the stated presets, chat costs $0.00125 on GPT-5 mini and $0.0105 on Kimi K3; repository review costs $0.0185 and $0.195; the cache-heavy agent loop costs $0.075 and $0.27. GPT-5 mini does not fit this workload in one request. GPT-5 mini has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

Which has the larger context window, GPT-5 mini or Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 has the larger documented context window: 1.05M, compared with 128K.

Benchmark evidence

The full public result ledger is available for audit without forcing a wide desktop table onto a phone.

Browse raw public benchmark evidence49 rows

Agentic

  • Terminal-Bench 2.1

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K388.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • BrowseComp

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K391.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • DeepSearchQA

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K395.0%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Toolathlon-Verified

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K373.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MCP Atlas

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K384.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • AutomationBench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K330.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • JobBench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K352.9%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • APEX-Agents

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K337.6%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • SpreadsheetBench 2

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K334.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • DECK-Bench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K373.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals)

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K380.9%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • ApprenticeBench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K318%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Coding

  • Vibe Code Bench

    GPT-5 mini14.17%
    Source
    Kimi K3—

    Not directly comparable

  • DeepSWE

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K367.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • CursorBench 3.2

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K360.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • FrontierSWE

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K381.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • ProgramBench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K377.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • Kimi Code Bench v2

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K372.9%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • sweMarathon

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K342%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • PostTrain Bench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K336.6%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MLS-Bench Lite

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K348.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • VulcanBench v3

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K373.7%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • OpenHarmony Bench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K357.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • FrontierSWE v2

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K325.9%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • LiveCodeBench (Vals)

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K387.2%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE-bench (Vals)

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K393.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • PostTrainBench v1.1

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K332.0%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Reasoning

  • ARC-AGI-1

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K394.50%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • ARC-AGI-2

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K360.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Multimodal

  • OfficeQA Pro

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K363.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MMMU-Pro

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K381.6%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MMMU-Pro w/ Python

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K383.4%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • CharXiv w/o tools

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K384.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • CharXiv

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K391.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MathVision

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K394.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MathVision w/ Python

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K397.8%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • BabyVision w/ Python

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K385.7%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • ZeroBench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K323.0%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • ZeroBench w/ Python

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K341.0%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • WorldVQA ForceAnswer

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K351.0%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • OmniDocBench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K391.1%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • PerceptionBench

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K358.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Knowledge

  • GPQA

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K393.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • GPQA-D

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K393.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • HLE

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K356%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • HLE w/o tools

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K343.5%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • GPQA Diamond (Vals)

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K392.9%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

  • MMLU-Pro (Vals)

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K388.0%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Instruction following

  • Gray Swan IPI (15 attempts)

    GPT-5 mini—
    Kimi K352.7%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

49 public results · 0 shared

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Last updated October 2, 2026