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BenchLM
Data

Kimi K3 vs Quasar 438B

Updated October 17, 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

Kimi K3 has the higher public point estimate, 69.87 versus 48.46. Their conditional score ranges do not overlap. These ranges do not establish rank confidence. 1 results are shared. Category rows resting on Estimated evidence or different benchmark sets are marked directional and do not name a winner.

Model A
Moonshot AI logo

Moonshot AI

69.87/100

Supported · Public rank #18

90% interval 65.8–74.0

Model B

Multiverse Computing

48.46/100

Estimated · Public rank #102

Conditional range 34.1–62.8

Shared results
1
Kimi K3 only
51
Quasar 438B only
1
Like-for-like categories
0 / 8
Supported: Kimi K3 · Estimated: Quasar 438B. Conditional ranges do not establish rank confidence.How 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

    Quasar 438B

    Quasar 438B has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Costs use the listed standard API rates.

    Confidence: listed-rates
  • Cache-heavy agent loop cost

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

    Quasar 438B

    Quasar 438B has the lower estimated token cost for this stated workload. Quasar 438B has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

    Confidence: rate-fallback
Show secondary and unsupported calls
  • Repository review cost

    50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

    Quasar 438B

    Quasar 438B 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

    Quasar 438B 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

    Quasar 438B is scored on Estimated evidence for agentic, so the reading is directional rather than like-for-like.

    Confidence: limited

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.

58.9Kimi K341.2Quasar 438B

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.

3 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
Kimi K3
69.4
Supported · #10/128
Quasar 438B
40.0
Estimated · #67/128
Basis
BenchAlign v5.8 lane · 15 vs 1 public rows
Reading
Directional only

Coding

Directional only
Kimi K3
58.9
Supported · #22/150
Quasar 438B
41.2
Estimated · #63/150
Basis
BenchAlign v5.8 lane · 15 vs 1 public rows
Reading
Directional only

Knowledge

Directional only
Kimi K3
68.8
Supported · #21/184
Quasar 438B
46.7
Estimated · #92/184
Basis
BenchAlign v5.8 lane · 6 vs 0 public rows
Reading
Directional only

Reasoning

Not comparable
Kimi K3
70.0
#21/28
Quasar 438B
78.3
Unranked · 2 rankable rows
Basis
Provisional lane · 1 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multimodal

Not comparable
Kimi K3
92.6
#1/54
Quasar 438B
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 3 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Multilingual

Not comparable
Kimi K3
Not ranked
Quasar 438B
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Instruction following

Not comparable
Kimi K3
Not ranked
Quasar 438B
Not ranked
Basis
Provisional lane · 0 vs 0 weighted rows
Reading
Not comparable

Math

Not comparable
Kimi K3
Not ranked
Quasar 438B
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

Kimi K3
$0.0105
Fits in one request
Quasar 438B
$0.0015
Fits in one request

Quasar 438B has the lower modeled cost

Costs use the listed standard API rates.

Repository review

50K fresh input + 3K output tokens

Kimi K3
$0.195
Fits in one request
Quasar 438B
$0.0354
Fits in one request

Quasar 438B has the lower modeled cost

Costs use the listed standard API rates.

Cache-heavy agent loop

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

Kimi K3
$0.27
Fits in one request
Quasar 438B
$0.15
Fits in one request
Cached input priced at the published list-input rate

Quasar 438B has the lower modeled cost

Quasar 438B 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.

Kimi K3

1.05M

Cached-input rate

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

Kimi K3

$0.3 per 1M cached input tokens

Quasar 438B

Documented inputs

Kimi K3

Not sourced

Quasar 438B

Not sourced

Documented outputs

Kimi K3

Not sourced

Quasar 438B

Not sourced

Reasoning profile

Kimi K3

Reasoning

Quasar 438B

Reasoning

Weight access

Kimi K3

Pending

Quasar 438B

Proprietary

License

Kimi K3

Pending

Quasar 438B

Proprietary

Release date

Kimi K3

2026-07-16

Quasar 438B

2026-09-02

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
Kimi K3 has the higher public point estimate, 69.87 versus 48.46. Their conditional score ranges do not overlap. These ranges do not establish rank confidence.
Workload cost
Repository review: $0.195 vs $0.0354. Cache-heavy agent loop: $0.27 vs $0.15.
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, Kimi K3 or Quasar 438B?

Kimi K3 has the higher public point estimate, 69.87 versus 48.46. Their conditional score ranges do not overlap. These ranges do not establish rank confidence. The page therefore keeps the decision tied to the specific documented workload.

Which is better for coding, Kimi K3 or Quasar 438B?

Kimi K3 scores higher for coding on the public lane, 58.9 to 41.2. Quasar 438B 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, Kimi K3 or Quasar 438B?

Kimi K3 scores higher for agentic tasks on the public lane, 69.4 to 40. Quasar 438B 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, Kimi K3 or Quasar 438B?

For the stated presets, chat costs $0.0105 on Kimi K3 and $0.0015 on Quasar 438B; repository review costs $0.195 and $0.0354; the cache-heavy agent loop costs $0.27 and $0.15. Quasar 438B has no published cached-input rate, so cached tokens use its listed input rate.

Which has the larger context window, Kimi K3 or Quasar 438B?

Kimi K3 has the larger documented context window: 1.05M, compared with 1M.

Benchmark evidence

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

Browse raw public benchmark evidence53 rows

Agentic

  • Terminal-Bench 2.1

    Kimi K388.3%
    Source
    Quasar 438B69.3%
    Source

    Kimi K3 leads this result

  • BrowseComp

    Kimi K391.2%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • DeepSearchQA

    Kimi K395.0%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • Toolathlon-Verified

    Kimi K373.2%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • MCP Atlas

    Kimi K384.2%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • AutomationBench

    Kimi K330.8%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • JobBench

    Kimi K352.9%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • APEX-Agents

    Kimi K337.6%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • SpreadsheetBench 2

    Kimi K334.8%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • DECK-Bench

    Kimi K373.5%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals)

    Kimi K380.9%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • ApprenticeBench

    Kimi K318%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • Hermes Index

    Kimi K339.2%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • Hermes Bench

    Kimi K371.5%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • MazeBench

    Kimi K31%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

Coding

  • DeepSWE

    Kimi K367.5%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • CursorBench 3.2

    Kimi K360.8%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • FrontierSWE

    Kimi K381.2%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • ProgramBench

    Kimi K377.8%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • Kimi Code Bench v2

    Kimi K372.9%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • sweMarathon

    Kimi K342%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • PostTrain Bench

    Kimi K336.6%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • MLS-Bench Lite

    Kimi K348.3%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • VulcanBench v3

    Kimi K373.7%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • OpenHarmony Bench

    Kimi K357.3%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • FrontierSWE v2

    Kimi K325.9%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • LiveCodeBench (Vals)

    Kimi K387.2%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • SWE-bench (Vals)

    Kimi K393.4%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • PostTrainBench v1.1

    Kimi K332.0%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • Bug Hunt Bench

    Kimi K321.0 fixes
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • Terminal-Bench 2.1

    Kimi K3—
    Quasar 438B69.3%
    Source

    Not directly comparable

Reasoning

  • ARC-AGI-1

    Kimi K394.50%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • ARC-AGI-2

    Kimi K360.4%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

Multimodal

  • OfficeQA Pro

    Kimi K363.3%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • MMMU-Pro

    Kimi K381.6%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • MMMU-Pro w/ Python

    Kimi K383.4%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • CharXiv w/o tools

    Kimi K384.8%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • CharXiv

    Kimi K391.3%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • MathVision

    Kimi K394.3%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • MathVision w/ Python

    Kimi K397.8%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • BabyVision w/ Python

    Kimi K385.7%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • ZeroBench

    Kimi K323.0%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • ZeroBench w/ Python

    Kimi K341.0%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • WorldVQA ForceAnswer

    Kimi K351.0%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • OmniDocBench

    Kimi K391.1%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • PerceptionBench

    Kimi K358.5%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

Knowledge

  • GPQA

    Kimi K393.5%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • GPQA-D

    Kimi K393.5%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • HLE

    Kimi K356%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • HLE w/o tools

    Kimi K343.5%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • GPQA Diamond (Vals)

    Kimi K392.9%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

  • MMLU-Pro (Vals)

    Kimi K388.0%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

Instruction following

  • Gray Swan IPI (15 attempts)

    Kimi K352.7%
    Source
    Quasar 438B—

    Not directly comparable

53 public results · 1 shared

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Last updated October 17, 2026