Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026
In this head-to-head showdown, Claude Opus 4.6 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,574 vs 1,528), while Claude Opus 4.6 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (75.9%), while Kimi K3 is more budget-friendly at $15/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.
10 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost
Follow-on Opus release. Slightly behind 4.5 on official SWE-bench bash-only in the last published sweep; stronger multi-step autonomous agent reasoning.
Moonshot AI frontier flagship reasoning and agent swarm model with 256k context and top-tier SWE-bench coding capability.
Currently comparing Claude Opus 4.6 vs Kimi K3. Alternative family tiers available.
Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost
Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.
Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost
Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.
Δ 46 Arena Elo pts
68 tok/s
$15 / 1M output
Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.
Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.
Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.
Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy
Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness
Cost per million tokens and max context window length
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.6 | Kimi K3 | Advantage Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preference Elo | +46 | ||
| Coding Elo | +35 | ||
| LiveBench | +2.5% | ||
| SWE-bench | +2.1% | ||
| GPQA Diamond | +3.6% | ||
| Time to first token | +70 ms | ||
| Output speed | 64 tok/s | 68 tok/s | +4 tok/s |
| Input price | +$2/1M | ||
| Output price | +$10/1M | ||
| Context window | +49k |
Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).
Kimi K3 is estimated to save $220.00/month ($2,640/year).
Higher SWE-bench (75.9%).
Lower output list price ($15/1M).
Lower TTFT (290 ms).
Larger window (1M).
Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Opus 4.6).
| Target Workload | Recommended Pick | Evaluation Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Repo / coding agents | Claude Opus 4.6 | Higher SWE-bench (75.9%). |
| High-volume chat | Kimi K3 | Lower output list price ($15/1M). |
| Voice / low-latency UI | Kimi K3 | Lower TTFT (290 ms). |
| Long-document RAG | Kimi K3 | Larger window (1M). |
| Screenshots / vision | Claude Opus 4.6 | Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Claude Opus 4.6). |
Jun 2026. The Kimi vs GPT hub remaps to the top Moonshot Elo vs top OpenAI Elo.
Slightly behind 4.5 on one official SWE-bench sweep; stronger long-horizon traces. We keep the row for old vs URLs.
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