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Kimi K3 vs Inkling

Kimi K3 leads Inkling on coding, 62.3 to 31.5 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling costs 3.7x less per output token ($4.05 vs $15.00 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 99 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Kimi K3 Replace Inkling
Kimi K3Moonshot AI
Coding
62.3
Overall
66.5
Output $/M
$15.00
97
T InklingThinking Machines
Coding
31.5
Overall
46.5
Output $/M
$4.05
1
vs boards won of 99 shared, 1 tied

Kimi K3 or Inkling: which to pick

Pick Kimi K3 for coding: it scores 62.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 31.5 for Inkling.

Pick Inkling for output tokens 3.7x cheaper ($4.05 vs $15.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.76 against $0.81).

Model AKimi K3Moonshot AI62.3/1006 independent benchmarks$0.81 per solved taskModel BInklingThinking Machines31.5/1006 independent benchmarks$0.76 per solved task
Shared results
99
Kimi K3 only
18
Inkling only
3
Like-for-like categories
8 of 9

Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.

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 62.3 from 6 benchmarks, Inkling 31.5 from 6 benchmarks.
Widest category
Math, 29.7 points apart on average over 6 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
ProofBench: Kimi K3 87.0% against Inkling 0.0%, 87.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Kimi K3 $15.00 against Inkling $4.05 per million output tokens, 3.7x apart.
Context window
Kimi K3 takes 1.05M tokens, Inkling 524K.

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 K3BarsInklingTies
Coding211
Intelligence20
Agentic work1001 tie
Reasoning130
Math60
Knowledge110
Web design80
General260
All shared boards9711 tie
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index211
Coding benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
LiveBench coding59.3%64.0%Inkling
LMArena WebDev16551414Kimi K3
AA Coding Index76.252.1Kimi K3
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)87.2%85.5%Kimi K3
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)93.4%77.6%Kimi K3
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)17.2%0.5%Kimi K3
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)85.0%19.2%Kimi K3
Code migration (Vals AI)16.1%11.8%Kimi K3
ProgramBench (Vals AI)2.0%0.0%Kimi K3
IOI (Vals AI)48.9%14.9%Kimi K3
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)80.9%47.6%Kimi K3
SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI)44.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI)18.2%7.3%Kimi K3
SkillsBench (Vals AI)Not measured26.1%Only Inkling measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)75.2%66.8%Kimi K3
SciCode59.5%47.0%Kimi K3
FrontierCode44.2%14.0%Kimi K3
FrontierSWE25.9%4.1%Kimi K3
WeirdML82.6%32.3%Kimi K3
ALE-Bench1524.5946.0Kimi K3
LMArena Text: coding15081466Kimi K3
LMArena Text: software and IT14991465Kimi K3
LMArena WebDev: React16701404Kimi K3
LMArena WebDev: HTML16441399Kimi K3
LMArena WebDev: from an image1579Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Intelligence benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
AA Intelligence Index43.625.0Kimi K3
Epoch Capabilities Index157.9148.4Kimi K3
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index100
Agentic work benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
AA Agentic Index50.022.5Kimi K3
Design Arena: agents building web apps12951196Kimi K3
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps1315Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps1269Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: agents building Android apps1253Not 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 slides1206Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides1248Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Design Arena: spreadsheets1096Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LiveBench research79.0%59.9%Kimi K3
LiveBench browser16.0%16.0%Tie
LiveBench long agentic42.8%14.1%Kimi K3
SREBench (Vals AI)Not measured0.0%Only Inkling measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)53.1%46.6%Kimi K3
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)33.4%15.3%Kimi K3
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)46.1%28.4%Kimi K3
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)12.9%3.8%Kimi K3
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)66.7%38.4%Kimi K3
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
APEX-Agents47.8%33.8%Kimi K3
PostTrainBench32.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Vending-Bench 2$5,165Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index130
Reasoning benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
GPQA Diamond92.9%87.1%Kimi K3
LiveBench reasoning90.7%78.3%Kimi K3
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)88.2%78.5%Kimi K3
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)93.5%87.2%Kimi K3
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)46.9%31.9%Kimi K3
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)93.1%88.3%Kimi K3
ARC-AGI94.5%79.5%Kimi K3
ARC-AGI-260.4%36.5%Kimi K3
SimpleBench60.7%50.0%Kimi K3
Chess puzzles37.0%21.0%Kimi K3
Mystery game puzzles26.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts14951451Kimi K3
LMArena Text: expert15201466Kimi K3
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14961448Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60
Math benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
OTIS Mock AIME97.2%88.9%Kimi K3
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 372.2%33.3%Kimi K3
FrontierMath, tier 439.0%4.9%Kimi K3
ProofBench87.0%0.0%Kimi K3
LMArena Text: math14941479Kimi K3
LMArena Text: mathematical work15051460Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index110
Knowledge benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
MMLU Pro88.0%86.3%Kimi K3
LegalBench (Vals AI)86.2%83.0%Kimi K3
CorpFin (Vals AI)71.6%68.6%Kimi K3
TaxEval (Vals AI)75.7%75.3%Kimi K3
MortgageTax (Vals AI)66.3%64.0%Kimi K3
MedCode (Vals AI)49.4%41.2%Kimi K3
SimpleQA Verified50.6%40.3%Kimi K3
LMArena Text: science15081455Kimi K3
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14891447Kimi K3
LMArena Text: legal and government15031448Kimi K3
LMArena Text: business and finance14701438Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index80
Web design benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
Design Arena: websites13341224Kimi K3
Design Arena: UI components13401199Kimi K3
Design Arena: game dev13601165Kimi K3
Design Arena: data viz13521157Kimi K3
Design Arena: 3D13871160Kimi K3
Design Arena: all code categories13601205Kimi K3
Design Arena: SVG13021107Kimi K3
Design Arena: ASCII artNot measured1089Only Inkling measured
LiveBench design77.2%58.3%Kimi K3
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index260
General benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
Vals Index53.0%29.0%Kimi K3
LiveBench data analysis78.7%72.8%Kimi K3
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)68.2%58.5%Kimi K3
SAGE (Vals AI)52.8%36.5%Kimi K3
MedScribe (Vals AI)88.0%85.4%Kimi K3
Vals Multimodal Index73.4%49.4%Kimi K3
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)88.7%77.3%Kimi K3
DTBench91.2%87.5%Kimi K3
LMCA52.7%37.6%Kimi K3
Surface Evolver Bench95.0%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
Furniture assembly34.2%Not measuredOnly Kimi K3 measured
LMArena Text14761442Kimi K3
LMArena Text: instruction following14851425Kimi K3
LMArena Text: creative writing14571390Kimi K3
LMArena Text: English14811442Kimi K3
LMArena Text: non-English14661434Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Chinese15291493Kimi K3
LMArena Text: German14901445Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Japanese14941429Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Korean14601403Kimi K3
LMArena Text: French14921455Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Spanish14721449Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Russian14851430Kimi K3
LMArena Text: Polish14581450Kimi K3
LMArena Text: multi-turn14891437Kimi K3
LMArena Text: longer queries14941435Kimi K3
LMArena Text: writing and language14711404Kimi K3
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14531394Kimi K3
Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Kimi K3 and Inkling
BenchmarkKimi K3InklingLeader
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$0.011Fits in one request
Inkling$0.0030Fits in one request

Inkling costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Kimi K3$0.195Fits in one request
Inkling$0.062Fits in one request

Inkling costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Kimi K3$0.750Fits in one request
Inkling$0.240Fits in one request

Inkling 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 Inkling
SpecificationMoonshotAI Kimi K3Thinking Machines Inkling
MakerMoonshot AIThinking Machines
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weights
ReleasedJuly 16, 2026July 17, 2026
Context window1.05M524K
Input $/Mtok$3.00$1.00
Output $/Mtok$15.00$4.05
Coding index62.331.5
Independent measurements behind it66
Cost per solved task$0.81$0.76
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Kimi K3 better than Inkling for coding?

Pick Kimi K3 for coding: it scores 62.3 on the Vibe Coding Index against 31.5 for Inkling. Pick Inkling for output tokens 3.7x cheaper ($4.05 vs $15.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.76 against $0.81).

Which is cheaper, Kimi K3 or Inkling?

Kimi K3 costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; Inkling costs $1.00 and $4.05. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Kimi K3 costs $0.81 and Inkling $0.76.

Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K3 or Inkling?

Kimi K3, with 1.05M tokens against 524K.

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

99 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Kimi K3's coding index rests on 6 independent benchmarks and Inkling's on 6. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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<iframe src="https://llmbenchmark.ai/embed/compare/kimi-k3-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling" title="Kimi K3 vs Inkling, LLMBenchmark.ai" width="100%" height="360" style="border:0;max-width:100%" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.4 sans-serif;margin:6px 0 0">Source: <a href="https://llmbenchmark.ai/compare/kimi-k3-vs-thinkingmachines-inkling">LLMBenchmark.ai, Kimi K3 vs Inkling</a></p>