Kimi K3 vs Qwen3.5-9B
Kimi K3 (Moonshot) and Qwen3.5-9B (Alibaba) compared on benchmarks, pricing, context window, and use-case rankings.
- Kimi K3 leads on overall intelligence (ECI 158 vs 139).
- Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper on input tokens — $0.10 vs $1.44 per 1M.
- Kimi K3 has a larger context window (1M vs 262K tokens).
- Kimi K3 ranks higher for coding (94th vs 3th percentile).
| Attribute | Kimi K3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Intelligence (ECI) | 158 | 139 |
| Coding | 94 | 3 |
| Math | 73 | 3 |
| Reasoning & Knowledge | 69 | 18 |
| Agentic & Tools | 66 | 21 |
| Specifications | ||
| Developer | Moonshot | Alibaba |
| Family | Kimi | Qwen |
| Released | Jul 16, 2026 | Feb 24, 2026 |
| Parameters | 2.8T | — |
| Availability | Open weights (non-commercial) | Open weights (restricted use) |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Price — $/M input | $1.44 | $0.10 |
| Price — $/M output | $9.00 | $0.15 |
| Inputs | text, image, video | text, image, video |
| Outputs | text | text |
| Benchmarks | ||
| AIME 2024/2025 | 97% | 62% |
| APEX | 51% | — |
| ARC-AGI | 95% | — |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 60% | — |
| GPQA Diamond | 93% | 79% |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 47% | 15% |
| SciCode | 60% | 28% |
| SimpleBench | 61% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 51% | — |
| WebDev Arena | 1674 | — |
| WeirdML | 83% | — |
| Terminal-Bench | — | 9% |
| τ²-bench | — | 87% |
Use-case scores are 0–100 percentile composites across each area’s benchmarks, ranked against every model from the past year. Highlighted cells lead each row. Open a model for the full picture.
Frequently asked questions
Is Kimi K3 better than Qwen3.5-9B?
On Epoch AI's Capabilities Index, Kimi K3 scores higher (158) than Qwen3.5-9B (139). The right pick depends on your task — compare their coding, math, and reasoning scores in the table above.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K3 or Qwen3.5-9B?
Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper on input tokens at $0.10 per million, versus $1.44 (representative OpenRouter pricing).
Which has a larger context window, Kimi K3 or Qwen3.5-9B?
Kimi K3 supports up to 1M tokens, compared with 262K for the other.
Which is better for coding, Kimi K3 or Qwen3.5-9B?
Across coding benchmarks like SWE-bench Verified and Terminal-Bench, Kimi K3 ranks higher — 94th vs 3th percentile among the models tracked on Model Beat.
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Benchmarks & model data from Epoch AI (CC BY); pricing & specs from OpenRouter. ECI = Epoch Capabilities Index.