Model comparison - Similar price, same tier
Kimi K3 vs Qwen3.8-Max
Kimi K3 is from Moonshot AI and Qwen3.8-Max is from Alibaba Cloud (Qwen). On list price, Kimi K3 charges 1.5x Qwen3.8-Max's input price ($3 vs $2 per 1M tokens), and Kimi K3 charges 2.5x Qwen3.8-Max's output price ($15 vs $6 per 1M tokens). Kimi K3 has a 1,048,576-token context window and Qwen3.8-Max 1,000,000 tokens; max output is 1,048,576 and 131,072 tokens per response. Qwen3.8-Max was released on August 2, 2026; no primary source states a release date for Kimi K3. Kimi K3 publishes open weights (Kimi K3 License (Hugging Face license tag: other)); Qwen3.8-Max is closed-weights.
Last verified from each provider's pricing page. All sources
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Kimi K3 | Qwen3.8-Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Moonshot AI | Alibaba Cloud (Qwen) |
| Input / 1M tokens | $3 | $2 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $15 | $6 |
| Cache read / 1M | $0.30 | $0.17 |
| Cache write / 1M | $3 | $2.50 |
| Context window | 1,048,576 | 1,000,000 |
| Max output | 1,048,576 | 131,072 |
| Release date | - | |
| Weights | Open | Closed |
| License | Kimi K3 License (Hugging Face license tag: other) | - |
| API model id | kimi-k3 | qwen3.8-max |
| AI Gateway id | moonshotai/kimi-k3 | alibaba/qwen3.8-max |
| Last verified |
Prices in USD per 1M tokens at each provider's standard first-party rate. A dash means the provider does not bill that item separately or no primary page states it.
What each costs in practice
The same three workloads every model page uses, worked from each model's standard list rates. Swap in your own token counts with the math on each model's page.
| Workload | Kimi K3 | Qwen3.8-Max |
|---|---|---|
| One agent session1M input tokens and 100K output tokens, no caching. | $4.50 | $2.60 |
| A chat app10,000 requests a day at 2K input and 500 output tokens each. | $135.00$4,050.00 per 30-day month | $70.00$2,100.00 per 30-day month |
| The same session at a 90% cache hit90% of the input is read from the prompt cache. The one-time cache write premium is not included. | $2.07 | $0.953 |
Show the math
Kimi K3
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $3 = $3.00Output: 0.1M x $15 = $1.50
- A chat appInput: 20M x $3 = $60.00Output: 5M x $15 = $75.00
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.30 = $0.27Uncached input: 0.1M x $3 = $0.30Output: 0.1M x $15 = $1.50
Qwen3.8-Max
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $2 = $2.00Output: 0.1M x $6 = $0.60
- A chat appInput: 20M x $2 = $40.00Output: 5M x $6 = $30.00
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.17 = $0.153Uncached input: 0.1M x $2 = $0.20Output: 0.1M x $6 = $0.60
Benchmarks under the same setting
Only boards that list both models under the same run setting appear here, one row per board and setting, with each score exactly as the board shows it. Scores on different boards use different scales and are never combined.
| Board and setting | Kimi K3 | Qwen3.8-Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text (Text Arena Overall)Text Arena Overall, default leaderboard view (8,834,211 votes, 416 models)Official leaderboard - arena.ai | 1487±5 | 1482±5 |
Set them up in your tools
Step-by-step guides whose official docs list Kimi K3 or Qwen3.8-Max by model id.
- Use Kimi in Claude CodeLists Kimi K3
- Use Kimi in ClineLists Kimi K3
- Use Kimi in Codex CLILists Kimi K3
- Use Kimi in ContinueLists Kimi K3
- Use Kimi in GooseLists Kimi K3
- Use Kimi in OpenCodeLists Kimi K3
- Use Kimi in ZedLists Kimi K3
- Use Qwen in Claude CodeLists Qwen3.8-Max
- Use Qwen in Codex CLILists Qwen3.8-Max
- Use Qwen in CursorLists Qwen3.8-Max
- Use Qwen in Kilo CodeLists Qwen3.8-Max
- Use Qwen in OpenCodeLists Qwen3.8-Max
Model pages
FAQ
How do Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max compare on price?
On list price, Kimi K3 charges 1.5x Qwen3.8-Max's input price ($3 vs $2 per 1M tokens), and Kimi K3 charges 2.5x Qwen3.8-Max's output price ($15 vs $6 per 1M tokens). For one agent session of 1M input and 100K output tokens with no caching, that is $4.50 on Kimi K3 and $2.60 on Qwen3.8-Max. Prices are each provider's first-party list rates, verified October 17, 2026 and October 17, 2026.
What are the context windows of Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max?
Kimi K3 has a 1,048,576-token context window and Qwen3.8-Max 1,000,000 tokens; max output is 1,048,576 and 131,072 tokens per response.
Are Kimi K3 and Qwen3.8-Max open weights?
Kimi K3's weights are published at huggingface.co under the Kimi K3 License (Hugging Face license tag: other). Qwen3.8-Max is closed-weights and is called through Alibaba Cloud (Qwen)'s API as qwen3.8-max.
More comparisons
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Kimi K3Similar price, same tier
- Gemini 4 Argon vs Qwen3.8-MaxSimilar price, same tier
- GPT-6.1 Sol vs Kimi K3Similar price, same tier
- GPT-6.1 Sol vs Qwen3.8-MaxSimilar price, same tier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Kimi K3Similar price, same tier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Qwen3.8-MaxSimilar price, same tier
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Kimi K3Similar price, same tier
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Qwen3.8-MaxSimilar price, same tier
Sources
Kimi K3 verified from platform.kimi.ai; Qwen3.8-Max verified from alibabacloud.com. This page is as current as the older of the two: .
- https://platform.kimi.ai/docs/pricing/chat
- https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/model-pricing
- https://platform.kimi.ai/docs/guide/kimi-k3-quickstart
- https://platform.kimi.ai/docs/models.md
- https://platform.kimi.ai/docs/pricing/batch.md
- https://platform.kimi.ai/docs/platform-changelog.md
- https://www.kimi.ai/blog/kimi-k3
- https://huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K3
- https://modelstudio.console.alibabacloud.com/ap-southeast-1/model/market/detail/qwen3.8-max
- https://www.qwencloud.com/models/qwen3.8-max
- https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/text-generation-model
- https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/context-cache
- https://www.alibabacloud.com/help/en/model-studio/newly-released-models
Newsletter
Get model price changes as they ship
One email per week. New model releases, price cuts and what they mean for your bill.