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  3. Kimi K3 vs Llama 4 Scout

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Kimi K3 vs Llama 4 Scout benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, Kimi K3 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,528 vs 1,412), while Kimi K3 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (73.8%), while Llama 4 Scout is more budget-friendly at $0.3/1M 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 Scout if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
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Verified Head-to-Head Advantage Breakdown

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

Kimi K3 (5)Llama 4 Scout (5)
Kimi K3
5 of 10 Wins
✓Preference Elo✓Coding Elo✓LiveBench✓SWE-bench✓GPQA Diamond
Llama 4 Scout
5 of 10 Wins
✓Time to first token✓Output speed✓Input price✓Output price✓Context window
Moonshot
Leads 5 of 10 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$2.5/1M out
Meta
Leads 5 of 10 metrics
Llama 4 Scout

Meta open-weight Llama 4 long-context sibling of Maverick. Common public API lists sit near $0.08–$0.30 / $0.30–$0.70 per 1M; we store a conservative hosted list until OpenRouter overwrites.

Scout 10M CtxElo 1,412$0.3/1M out

Kimi Series Lineage & Sibling Variants

4 models

Currently comparing Kimi K3 vs Llama 4 Scout. Alternative family tiers available.

Active: Kimi K3
Kimi K2.5 Max$2Kimi K2$1.4Kimi Chat 1.5$0.8

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
$7.30
7.0× 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 116 Arena Elo pts

Throughput LeaderLlama 4 Scout Wins

Llama 4 Scout

155 tok/s

Value per Dollar LeaderLlama 4 Scout Wins

Llama 4 Scout

$0.3 / 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 Scout (5)
Kimi K3: 5W (50%)Overall: Even matchupLlama 4 Scout: 5W (50%)
← Kimi K3Llama 4 Scout →
🏆Kimi K3(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsLlama 4 Scout
Preference Elo
1,528vs1,412+116
Coding Elo
1,535vs1,398+137
SWE-bench
73.8%vs52.4%+21.4%
LiveBench
69.5%vs59.6%+9.9%
GPQA Diamond
88.4%vs71.2%+17.2%
Kimi K3: 5WLlama 4 Scout: 0W
🏆Llama 4 Scout(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsLlama 4 Scout
Output speed
68 tok/svs155 tok/s+87 tok/s
Time to first token
290 msvs130 ms+160 ms
Kimi K3: 0WLlama 4 Scout: 2W
🏆Llama 4 Scout(3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsLlama 4 Scout
Output price
$2.5/1Mvs$0.3/1M+$2.2/1M
Input price
$0.6/1Mvs$0.08/1M+$0.52/1M
Context window
262kvs10M+9.7M
Kimi K3: 0WLlama 4 Scout: 3W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo+116
Kimi K31,528
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout1,412
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Coding Elo+137
Kimi K31,535
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout1,398
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
LiveBench+9.9%
Kimi K369.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout59.6%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
SWE-bench+21.4%
Kimi K373.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout52.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
GPQA Diamond+17.2%
Kimi K388.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout71.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Time to first token+160 ms
Kimi K3290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout130 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Output speed+87 tok/s
Kimi K368 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout155 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Input price+$0.52/1M
Kimi K3$0.6/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout$0.08/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Output price+$2.2/1M
Kimi K3$2.5/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout$0.3/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Context window+9.7M
Kimi K3262k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Llama 4 Scout10M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
BenchmarkKimi K3Llama 4 ScoutAdvantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,528
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,412
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+116
Coding Elo
1,535
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,398
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+137
LiveBench
69.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
59.6%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+9.9%
SWE-bench
73.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
52.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+21.4%
GPQA Diamond
88.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
71.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+17.2%
Time to first token
290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
130 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+160 ms
Output speed
68 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
155 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+87 tok/s
Input price
$0.6/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$0.08/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+$0.52/1M
Output price
$2.5/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$0.3/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+$2.2/1M
Context window
262k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
10M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
+9.7M
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

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

Save up to 88% with Llama 4 Scout
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$58.50 / mo
In: $21Out: $37.5
Llama 4 Scout$7.30 / mo
In: $2.8Out: $4.5
Estimated Cost Delta

Llama 4 Scout is estimated to save $51.20/month ($614/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 Scout:Pick Llama 4 Scout when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 3
    Llama 4 Scout:Pick Llama 4 Scout 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 Scout

Lower output list price ($0.3/1M).

Voice / low-latency UILlama 4 Scout

Lower TTFT (130 ms).

Long-document RAGLlama 4 Scout

Larger window (10M).

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 ScoutLower output list price ($0.3/1M).
Voice / low-latency UILlama 4 ScoutLower TTFT (130 ms).
Long-document RAGLlama 4 ScoutLarger window (10M).
Screenshots / visionKimi K3Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (Kimi K3).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news
compareAug 16, 2026

Haiku 4.5 vs Llama 4 Scout: cheap Claude versus cheap open Llama

$1/$5 hosted Claude vs a cheap long-context open sibling. The alternative-to-Sonnet pair that is honest.

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.

launchApr 8, 2026

Llama 4 Scout: long-context open sibling of Maverick

Huge window, cheap hosted lists. The Haiku alternative that is actually open-weight.

Community Sentiment

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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$0.6/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$2.5/1M
Meta

Llama 4 Scout

Elo 1,412
SWE-bench52.4%
Speed (tok/s)155 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.08/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$0.3/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Kimi K3 or Llama 4 Scout?
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 Scout?
Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 52.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
Llama 4 Scout output tokens are $0.3/1M versus $2.5/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Kimi K3 or Llama 4 Scout?
Llama 4 Scout has the lower time-to-first-token (130 ms vs 290 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?
Llama 4 Scout accepts 10M tokens versus 262k.
Can I self-host either model?
Llama 4 Scout 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 Scout Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • compare · Aug 16, 2026

    Haiku 4.5 vs Llama 4 Scout: cheap Claude versus cheap open Llama

  • launch · Jun 8, 2026

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

  • launch · Apr 8, 2026

    Llama 4 Scout: long-context open sibling of Maverick

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Kimi K3 matchups →|All Llama 4 Scout matchups →
Kimi K3 vs Kimi K2.5 Max (previous kimi)Llama 4 Scout vs Llama 4 Maverick (previous llama)Kimi K2 vs Llama 4 ScoutGemini 3.7 Flash vs Kimi K3Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Kimi K3DeepSeek V4 Pro vs Kimi K3