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Every score has a dated snapshot.

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  3. Kimi K3 vs Llama 4 Maverick

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 17, 2026

Kimi K3 vs Llama 4 Maverick benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, Kimi K3 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,528 vs 1,468), while Kimi K3 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (73.8%), while Llama 4 Maverick is more budget-friendly at $0.8/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose Kimi K3 if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose Llama 4 Maverick if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
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Verified Head-to-Head Advantage Breakdown

9 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

Kimi K3 (5)Llama 4 Maverick (4)
Kimi K3
5 of 9 Wins
✓Preference Elo✓Coding Elo✓LiveBench✓SWE-bench✓GPQA Diamond
Llama 4 Maverick
4 of 9 Wins
✓Time to first token✓Output speed✓Input price✓Output price
Moonshot
Leads 5 of 9 metrics
Kimi K3

Moonshot AI frontier flagship reasoning and agent swarm model with 256k context and top-tier SWE-bench coding capability.

Elo 1,528$15/1M out
Meta
Leads 4 of 9 metrics
Llama 4 Maverick

Meta natively multimodal open-weight flagship.

Elo 1,468$0.7999999999999999/1M out

Kimi K3 Thinking Depth & Cost Scaler

Model A

Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost

Mode: Medium (Deep Reasoning)

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.

Thinking Delay
290 ms
Standard speed
Reasoning Depth
~2,500
Internal tokens
Cost / 1k Calls
$43.50
7.3× standard bill
Accuracy Boost
+5.5% accuracy
STEM & SWE-bench
Top Rival Showdowns for Kimi K3
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5vs GPT-5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs DeepSeek V4 Pro
Preference LeaderKimi K3 Wins

Kimi K3

Δ 60 Arena Elo pts

Throughput LeaderLlama 4 Maverick Wins

Llama 4 Maverick

130 tok/s

Value per Dollar LeaderLlama 4 Maverick Wins

Llama 4 Maverick

$0.7999999999999999 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect
Percentile 0–100
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

Kimi K3 (5)vsLlama 4 Maverick (4)
Kimi K3: 5W (56%)Overall: Kimi K3Llama 4 Maverick: 4W (44%)
← Kimi K31 tiesLlama 4 Maverick →
🏆Kimi K3(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsLlama 4 Maverick
Preference Elo
1,528vs1,468+60
Coding Elo
1,535vs1,452+83
SWE-bench
73.8%vs57.1%+16.7%
LiveBench
69.5%vs62.8%+6.7%
GPQA Diamond
88.4%vs74.6%+13.8%
Kimi K3: 5WLlama 4 Maverick: 0W
🏆Llama 4 Maverick(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsLlama 4 Maverick
Output speed
68 tok/svs130 tok/s+62 tok/s
Time to first token
290 msvs170 ms+120 ms
Kimi K3: 0WLlama 4 Maverick: 2W
🏆Llama 4 Maverick(2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsLlama 4 Maverick
Output price
$15/1Mvs$0.8/1M+$14.2/1M
Input price
$3/1Mvs$0.2/1M+$2.8/1M
Context window
1Mvs1M
Kimi K3: 0WLlama 4 Maverick: 2W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo+60
Kimi K31,528
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick1,468
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
Coding Elo+83
Kimi K31,535
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick1,452
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
LiveBench+6.7%
Kimi K369.5%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick62.8%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
SWE-bench+16.7%
Kimi K373.8%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick57.1%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
GPQA Diamond+13.8%
Kimi K388.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick74.6%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Time to first token+120 ms
Kimi K3290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick170 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output speed+62 tok/s
Kimi K368 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick130 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Input price+$2.8/1M
Kimi K3$3/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick$0.2/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Output price+$14.2/1M
Kimi K3$15/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick$0.8/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Context window
Kimi K31M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
Llama 4 Maverick1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
BenchmarkKimi K3Llama 4 MaverickAdvantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,528
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
1,468
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
+60
Coding Elo
1,535
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
1,452
lmarena · Aug 17, 2026
+83
LiveBench
69.5%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
62.8%
livebench · Aug 17, 2026
+6.7%
SWE-bench
73.8%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
57.1%
swebench · Aug 17, 2026
+16.7%
GPQA Diamond
88.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
74.6%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+13.8%
Time to first token
290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
170 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+120 ms
Output speed
68 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
130 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+62 tok/s
Input price
$3/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$0.2/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
+$2.8/1M
Output price
$15/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
$0.8/1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
+$14.2/1M
Context window
1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
1M
openrouter · Aug 17, 2026
—
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 94% with Llama 4 Maverick
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
Kimi K3$330.00 / mo
In: $105Out: $225
Llama 4 Maverick$19.00 / mo
In: $7Out: $12
Estimated Cost Delta

Llama 4 Maverick is estimated to save $311.00/month ($3,732/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    Kimi K3:Pick Kimi K3 when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
  • 2
    Llama 4 Maverick:Pick Llama 4 Maverick when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 3
    Llama 4 Maverick:Pick Llama 4 Maverick when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K3

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatLlama 4 Maverick

Lower output list price ($0.8/1M).

Voice / low-latency UILlama 4 Maverick

Lower TTFT (170 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionKimi K3

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Kimi K3).

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsKimi K3Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).
High-volume chatLlama 4 MaverickLower output list price ($0.8/1M).
Voice / low-latency UILlama 4 MaverickLower TTFT (170 ms).
Long-document RAGKimi K3Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / visionKimi K3Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Kimi K3).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news
launchJun 8, 2026

Kimi K3: Moonshot’s long-context open-weight competitive row

Jun 2026. The Kimi vs GPT hub remaps to the top Moonshot Elo vs top OpenAI Elo.

compareApr 9, 2026

Llama vs Claude: open-weight Meta versus the Anthropic crown

Hub remaps to top Meta vs top Anthropic Elo. Usually Maverick vs Opus 5.

launchApr 8, 2026

Llama 4 Maverick: Meta’s natively multimodal open-weight flagship

Apr 2026. The Llama vs Claude hub uses the top Meta Elo row — usually Maverick.

launchDec 6, 2024

Llama 3.3 70B stays as the previous Meta 70B workhorse

Dec 2024 instruct 70B. Still a self-host baseline. Llama 4 is the 2026 buy.

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK
VS
Moonshot

Kimi K3

Elo 1,528
SWE-bench73.8%
Speed (tok/s)68 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$3/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$15/1M
Meta

Llama 4 Maverick

Elo 1,468
SWE-bench57.1%
Speed (tok/s)130 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.2/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$0.8/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Kimi K3 or Llama 4 Maverick?
Kimi K3 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,528). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Kimi K3 or Llama 4 Maverick?
Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 57.1%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
Llama 4 Maverick output tokens are $0.8/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Kimi K3 or Llama 4 Maverick?
Llama 4 Maverick has the lower time-to-first-token (170 ms vs 290 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?
Kimi K3 accepts 1M tokens versus 1M.
Can I self-host either model?
Llama 4 Maverick is marked open-weights in our catalog. The other side is a closed API. Check the provider license before you ship weights.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?
No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?
Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Kimi K3 and Llama 4 Maverick Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • launch · Jun 8, 2026

    Kimi K3: Moonshot’s long-context open-weight competitive row

  • compare · Apr 9, 2026

    Llama vs Claude: open-weight Meta versus the Anthropic crown

  • launch · Apr 8, 2026

    Llama 4 Maverick: Meta’s natively multimodal open-weight flagship

  • launch · Dec 6, 2024

    Llama 3.3 70B stays as the previous Meta 70B workhorse

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Kimi K3 matchups →|All Llama 4 Maverick matchups →
Kimi K3 vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.5 (previous kimi)Llama 4 Maverick vs Llama 3.3 70B (previous llama)Llama 4 Maverick vs Llama 4 Scout (next llama)MoonshotAI: Kimi K2 0711 vs Llama 4 MaverickGemini 3.7 Flash vs Kimi K3Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Kimi K3