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  3. Kimi K3 vs Qwen 2.5 Plus

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026

Kimi K3 vs Qwen 2.5 Plus benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, Kimi K3 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,528 vs 1,445), while Kimi K3 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (73.8%), while Qwen 2.5 Plus is more budget-friendly at $1/1M 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 Qwen 2.5 Plus 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 (6)Qwen 2.5 Plus (4)
Kimi K3
6 of 10 Wins
✓Preference Elo✓Coding Elo✓LiveBench✓SWE-bench✓GPQA Diamond✓Context window
Qwen 2.5 Plus
4 of 10 Wins
✓Time to first token✓Output speed✓Input price✓Output price
Moonshot
Leads 6 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
Alibaba
Leads 4 of 10 metrics
Qwen 2.5 Plus

Alibaba balanced flagship API model with high-throughput general reasoning.

Elo 1,445$1/1M 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
$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 83 Arena Elo pts

Throughput LeaderQwen 2.5 Plus Wins

Qwen 2.5 Plus

110 tok/s

Value per Dollar LeaderQwen 2.5 Plus Wins

Qwen 2.5 Plus

$1 / 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 (6)vsQwen 2.5 Plus (4)
Kimi K3: 6W (60%)Overall: Kimi K3Qwen 2.5 Plus: 4W (40%)
← Kimi K3Qwen 2.5 Plus →
🏆Kimi K3(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

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

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsQwen 2.5 Plus
Preference Elo
1,528vs1,445+83
Coding Elo
1,535vs1,460+75
SWE-bench
73.8%vs59.2%+14.6%
LiveBench
69.5%vs63.5%+6%
GPQA Diamond
88.4%vs75.8%+12.6%
Kimi K3: 5WQwen 2.5 Plus: 0W
🏆Qwen 2.5 Plus(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsQwen 2.5 Plus
Output speed
68 tok/svs110 tok/s+42 tok/s
Time to first token
290 msvs180 ms+110 ms
Kimi K3: 0WQwen 2.5 Plus: 2W
🏆Qwen 2.5 Plus(2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark
Kimi K3vsQwen 2.5 Plus
Output price
$2.5/1Mvs$1/1M+$1.5/1M
Input price
$0.6/1Mvs$0.25/1M+$0.35/1M
Context window
262kvs128k+134k
Kimi K3: 1WQwen 2.5 Plus: 2W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo+83
Kimi K31,528
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus1,445
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Coding Elo+75
Kimi K31,535
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus1,460
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
LiveBench+6%
Kimi K369.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus63.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
SWE-bench+14.6%
Kimi K373.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus59.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPQA Diamond+12.6%
Kimi K388.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus75.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Time to first token+110 ms
Kimi K3290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus180 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output speed+42 tok/s
Kimi K368 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus110 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Input price+$0.35/1M
Kimi K3$0.6/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus$0.25/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output price+$1.5/1M
Kimi K3$2.5/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus$1/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Context window+134k
Kimi K3262k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Qwen 2.5 Plus128k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
BenchmarkKimi K3Qwen 2.5 PlusAdvantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,528
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,445
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+83
Coding Elo
1,535
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,460
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+75
LiveBench
69.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
63.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+6%
SWE-bench
73.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
59.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+14.6%
GPQA Diamond
88.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
75.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+12.6%
Time to first token
290 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
180 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+110 ms
Output speed
68 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
110 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+42 tok/s
Input price
$0.6/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$0.25/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.35/1M
Output price
$2.5/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$1/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$1.5/1M
Context window
262k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
128k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+134k
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

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

Save up to 59% with Qwen 2.5 Plus
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
Qwen 2.5 Plus$23.75 / mo
In: $8.75Out: $15
Estimated Cost Delta

Qwen 2.5 Plus is estimated to save $34.75/month ($417/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
    Qwen 2.5 Plus:Pick Qwen 2.5 Plus when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 3
    Qwen 2.5 Plus:Pick Qwen 2.5 Plus when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K3

Higher SWE-bench (73.8%).

High-volume chatQwen 2.5 Plus

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

Voice / low-latency UIQwen 2.5 Plus

Lower TTFT (180 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi K3

Larger window (262k).

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 chatQwen 2.5 PlusLower output list price ($1/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIQwen 2.5 PlusLower TTFT (180 ms).
Long-document RAGKimi K3Larger window (262k).
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.

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
Alibaba

Qwen 2.5 Plus

Elo 1,445
SWE-bench59.2%
Speed (tok/s)110 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.25/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$1/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Kimi K3 or Qwen 2.5 Plus?
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 Qwen 2.5 Plus?
Kimi K3 leads SWE-bench at 73.8% vs 59.2%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
Qwen 2.5 Plus output tokens are $1/1M versus $2.5/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Kimi K3 or Qwen 2.5 Plus?
Qwen 2.5 Plus has the lower time-to-first-token (180 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 262k tokens versus 128k.
Can I self-host either model?
Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
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 Qwen 2.5 Plus 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

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Kimi K3 matchups →|All Qwen 2.5 Plus matchups →
Kimi K3 vs Kimi K2.5 Max (previous kimi)Qwen 2.5 Plus vs Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B (next qwen)Qwen 3 Max vs Kimi K3Qwen QwQ 32B vs Kimi K3Kimi K2 vs Qwen 2.5 PlusGemini 3.7 Flash vs Kimi K3