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Kimi K3 vs MiniMax M2

Updated October 21, 2026. 40 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.

Replace Kimi K3 Replace MiniMax M2
Kimi K3Moonshot AI
Coding
61.8
Overall
43.6
Output $/M
$11.936
40
MiniMax M2MiniMax
Coding
45.3
Overall
18.6
Output $/M
$1.02
0
vs boards won of 40 shared

Decision reading

Pick Kimi K3 for coding: it scores 61.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 45.3 for MiniMax M2.

Pick MiniMax M2 when output tokens cost 11.7x less, or when a solved task costs $0.702 against $0.81.

Model AKimi K3Moonshot AI61.8/1002 independent benchmarks$0.81 per solved taskModel BMiniMax M2MiniMax45.3/1002 independent benchmarks$0.702 per solved task
Shared results
40
Kimi K3 only
77
MiniMax M2 only
9
Like-for-like categories
8 of 9

Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.

Which one for your work

Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.

At a glance

Coding index
Kimi K3 61.8 from 2 benchmarks, MiniMax M2 45.3 from 2 benchmarks.
Widest category
Coding, 36.0 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
LMArena WebDev: Kimi K3 1655 against MiniMax M2 1297, 51.2 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Kimi K3 $11.936 against MiniMax M2 $1.02 per million output tokens, 11.7x apart.
Context window
Kimi K3 takes 1.05M tokens, MiniMax M2 205K.

Benchmark by benchmark

First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryKimi K3BarsMiniMax M2Ties
Coding40
Intelligence10
Agentic work10
Reasoning50
Math20
Knowledge40
Web design70
General160
All shared boards400
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index40
Coding benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
SWE-bench VerifiedNot measured61.0%Only MiniMax M2 measured
LiveBench coding59.3%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena WebDev16551297Kimi K3
AA Coding Index76.2Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)87.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)93.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)17.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)85.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Code migration (Vals AI)16.1%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
ProgramBench (Vals AI)2.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
IOI (Vals AI)48.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)80.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI)44.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI)18.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)75.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured82.6%Only MiniMax M2 measured
SciCode59.5%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured25.8%Only MiniMax M2 measured
Terminal-BenchNot measured30.0%Only MiniMax M2 measured
FrontierCode44.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
FrontierSWE25.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
WeirdML82.6%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
ALE-Bench1524.5Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text: coding15081371Kimi K3
LMArena Text: software and IT14991373Kimi K3
LMArena WebDev: React1670Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena WebDev: HTML16441306Kimi K3
LMArena WebDev: from an image1579Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
Intelligence benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
AA Intelligence Index43.618.6Kimi K3
Epoch Capabilities Index157.9Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
Agentic work benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
AA Agentic Index50.0Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: agents building web apps1296Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps1315Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps1267Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: agents building Android apps1256Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: agents building Godot games1223Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: agents building games1252Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: HTML slides1256Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides1273Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: spreadsheets1058Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LiveBench research79.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LiveBench browser16.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LiveBench long agentic42.8%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)53.1%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)33.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)46.1%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)12.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)66.7%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
BioMysteryBench (Vals AI)72.6%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)1.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Time Horizon Index (Vals AI)10.5%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
τ²-Bench TelecomNot measured86.8%Only MiniMax M2 measured
APEX-Agents47.8%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
PostTrainBench32.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Vending-Bench 2$5,165$161Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index50
Reasoning benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
GPQA Diamond92.9%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LiveBench reasoning90.7%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)88.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)93.5%77.7%Kimi K3
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)46.9%13.7%Kimi K3
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)93.1%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
ARC-AGI94.5%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
ARC-AGI-260.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
SimpleBench60.7%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Chess puzzles37.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Mystery game puzzles26.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts14951357Kimi K3
LMArena Text: expert15201338Kimi K3
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14961376Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Math benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
AA Math IndexNot measured78.3Only MiniMax M2 measured
AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured78.3%Only MiniMax M2 measured
OTIS Mock AIME97.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 372.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
FrontierMath, tier 439.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
ProofBench87.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text: math14941351Kimi K3
LMArena Text: mathematical work15051368Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
Knowledge benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
MMLU Pro88.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LegalBench (Vals AI)86.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)71.6%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)75.7%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
MortgageTax (Vals AI)66.3%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
MedCode (Vals AI)49.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured82.0%Only MiniMax M2 measured
SimpleQA Verified50.6%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text: science15081348Kimi K3
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14891367Kimi K3
LMArena Text: legal and government15031349Kimi K3
LMArena Text: business and finance14701336Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index70
Web design benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
Design Arena: websites13361144Kimi K3
Design Arena: UI components13451136Kimi K3
Design Arena: game dev13611119Kimi K3
Design Arena: data viz13501140Kimi K3
Design Arena: 3D13881098Kimi K3
Design Arena: all code categories13611135Kimi K3
Design Arena: SVG13011098Kimi K3
LiveBench design77.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index160
General benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
Vals Index53.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LiveBench data analysis78.7%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)68.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
SAGE (Vals AI)52.8%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)88.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Vals Multimodal Index73.4%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
IFBenchNot measured72.3%Only MiniMax M2 measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)88.7%64.3%Kimi K3
DTBench91.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMCA52.7%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Surface Evolver Bench95.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Furniture assembly34.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text14761340Kimi K3
LMArena Text: instruction following14851329Kimi K3
LMArena Text: creative writing14571286Kimi K3
LMArena Text: English14811364Kimi K3
LMArena Text: non-English14661313Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Chinese15291366Kimi K3
LMArena Text: German14901357Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Japanese1494Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text: Korean1460Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text: French14921336Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Spanish14721326Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Russian14851330Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Polish14581312Kimi K3
LMArena Text: multi-turn14891361Kimi K3
LMArena Text: longer queries14941331Kimi K3
LMArena Text: writing and language14711295Kimi K3
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14531298Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
BenchmarkKimi K3MiniMax M2Leader
Neither model has a result on 5 boards here

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.

Chat turn

1K input + 500 output tokens

Kimi K3$0.0062Fits in one request
MiniMax M2$0.0008Fits in one request

MiniMax M2 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Kimi K3$0.048Fits in one request
MiniMax M2$0.016Fits in one request

MiniMax M2 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Kimi K3$0.167Fits in one request
MiniMax M2$0.061Exceeds the context window

MiniMax M2 costs less

Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.

Specification differences

The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.

Specifications of Kimi K3 and MiniMax M2
SpecificationMoonshotAI Kimi K3MiniMax M2
MakerMoonshot AIMiniMax
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weights
ReleasedJuly 16, 2026October 23, 2025
Context window1.05M205K
Input $/Mtok$0.239$0.255
Output $/Mtok$11.936$1.02
Coding index61.845.3
Independent measurements behind it22
Cost per solved task$0.81$0.702
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Kimi K3 better than MiniMax M2 for coding?

Pick Kimi K3 for coding: it scores 61.8 on the Vibe Coding Index against 45.3 for MiniMax M2. Pick MiniMax M2 when output tokens cost 11.7x less, or when a solved task costs $0.702 against $0.81.

Which is cheaper, Kimi K3 or MiniMax M2?

Kimi K3 costs $0.239 per million input tokens and $11.936 per million output tokens; MiniMax M2 costs $0.255 and $1.02. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Kimi K3 costs $0.81 and MiniMax M2 $0.702.

Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K3 or MiniMax M2?

Kimi K3, with 1.05M tokens against 205K.

How many benchmarks is the Kimi K3 vs MiniMax M2 comparison based on?

40 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Kimi K3's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and MiniMax M2's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif;margin:6px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://llmbenchmark.ai/compare/kimi-k3-vs-minimax-minimax-m2">LLMBenchmark.ai, Kimi K3 vs MiniMax M2</a></p>