Kimi K3.1 Pro vs Qwen3.8 Max
Official Kimi and Qwen API prices and LMArena scores, checked 2026-10-29. Add up to 2 more models to compare 4.
Qwen3.8 Max costs less; Kimi K3.1 Pro wins more LMArena tasks.
Same input price ($2 per 1M); Qwen3.8 Max is 1.7x cheaper on output. Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 7 points higher for coding. Across 1 shared LMArena task, Kimi K3.1 Pro leads 1 to 0. A medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) costs $90 on Kimi K3.1 Pro and $70 on Qwen3.8 Max.
- Pick Kimi K3.1 Pro if you care most about coding (+7).
- Pick Qwen3.8 Max if you want the lower bill ($70 vs $90 for a medium month).
Medium: 20M input + 5M output tokens a month at list price (short-context rate, no caching or batch discounts).
Marked side is better: lower for prices, higher for context and scores. Bars are scaled to the larger of the two.
| Spec | Kimi K3.1 Pro | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M tokens | ||
| Input | $2 | $2 |
| Cached input | $0.20 | None |
| Output | $10 | $6 |
| Blend 3:1 | $4 | $3 |
| Sample month, medium | $90 | $70 |
| Context | ||
| Context window | 1.04858M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Quality (LMArena, out of 100) | ||
| Coding | 57/100 #6 of 50 | 50/100 #10 of 50 |
| Chat | Not ranked | 28/100 #11 of 51 |
| Creative writing | Not ranked | 31/100 #9 of 51 |
| Roleplay and characters | Not ranked | 28/100 #7 of 51 |
| Reasoning and math | Not ranked | 49/100 #9 of 51 |
| Vision | Not ranked | 100/100 #1 of 33 |
| Long documents | Not ranked | Not ranked |
| Cheap bulk and agents | Not ranked | 46/100 #23 of 34 |
| Details | ||
| Provider | Kimi | Qwen |
| API model id | kimi-k3.1-pro | qwen3.8-max |
| Notes | Flat price across the 1M window. Cache writes cost $2 (5-minute) or $4 (1-hour). | International (Singapore). Alibaba lists the cache-hit price only in the Model Studio console. |
| Sources | ||
| Last checked | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-29 |
| Official pricing | Kimi pricing | Qwen pricing |
Plans from data checked hourly against each vendor's official pricing page. Vendors state limits in different units, so we quote them as published. Team and enterprise plans are per seat.
API prices in USD per 1M tokens from each provider's official pricing page. Blend 3:1 = (3 x input + output) / 4. Sample month = stated input and output tokens at the list price, no caching. Quality: relative score out of 100 on each LMArena leaderboard (100 = top model we price on that board, n/a = not ranked there), data licensed CC BY 4.0. See how we pick.
Where each one ranks on LMArena
Relative score out of 100 on each leaderboard (100 = the top model we price there), with the rank among the models from our API price table that appear on that board.
- Coding (Code Arena): Kimi K3.1 Pro #6 of 50 (57/100), Qwen3.8 Max #10 of 50 (50/100)
- Chat (Text Arena): Kimi K3.1 Pro not ranked, Qwen3.8 Max #11 of 51 (28/100)
- Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing): Kimi K3.1 Pro not ranked, Qwen3.8 Max #9 of 51 (31/100)
- Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn): Kimi K3.1 Pro not ranked, Qwen3.8 Max #7 of 51 (28/100)
- Reasoning and math (Text Arena math): Kimi K3.1 Pro not ranked, Qwen3.8 Max #9 of 51 (49/100)
- Vision (Vision Arena): Kimi K3.1 Pro not ranked, Qwen3.8 Max #1 of 33 (100/100)
- Long documents (Document Arena): Kimi K3.1 Pro not ranked, Qwen3.8 Max not ranked
- Cheap bulk and agents (Agent Arena): Kimi K3.1 Pro not ranked, Qwen3.8 Max #23 of 34 (46/100)
Pricing details from the official pages
Kimi K3.1 Pro lists $2 input, $10 output, $0.20 cached input per 1M tokens on Kimi pricing. Qwen3.8 Max lists $2 input, $6 output per 1M tokens on Qwen pricing. Prices checked 2026-10-29.
- Kimi K3.1 Pro: Flat price across the 1M window. Cache writes cost $2 (5-minute) or $4 (1-hour).
- Qwen3.8 Max: International (Singapore). Alibaba lists the cache-hit price only in the Model Studio console.
Sample monthly bill at list price, no caching: Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $9 vs $7. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $90 vs $70. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $900 vs $700.
FAQ
Is Kimi K3.1 Pro cheaper than Qwen3.8 Max?
Kimi K3.1 Pro costs $2 input and $10 output per 1M tokens; Qwen3.8 Max costs $2 and $6. For a medium month (20M input + 5M output tokens) Qwen3.8 Max is cheaper: $70 vs $90.
Which is better for coding, Kimi K3.1 Pro or Qwen3.8 Max?
On LMArena's Code Arena Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 57/100 (#6 of 50) and Qwen3.8 Max 50/100 (#10 of 50), so Kimi K3.1 Pro is ahead by 7 points.
Which has the bigger context window?
Kimi K3.1 Pro: 1.04858M tokens. Qwen3.8 Max: 1M tokens.
How much do Kimi K3.1 Pro and Qwen3.8 Max cost per month?
Light (2M input + 0.5M output tokens): $9 vs $7. Medium (20M input + 5M output tokens): $90 vs $70. Heavy (200M input + 50M output tokens): $900 vs $700. Pick your own token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
Where do these numbers come from?
Prices come from each provider's official pricing page, checked daily. Quality is the relative score on the LMArena leaderboard dataset, licensed CC BY 4.0. Where a model is not ranked we show n/a.