ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Grok 4.3 vs Kimi K2.7 Code vs Qwen3.6 35B-A3B

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68, Grok 4.3 67, Kimi K2.7 Code 64). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. xAI

    Grok 4.3

    Released Apr 17, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI149.2
    • Price$1.25 / $2.50
    • Context1M
  2. Moonshot AI

    Kimi K2.7 Code

    Released Jun 12, 2026

    64/100
    • ECI150.0
    • Price$0.95 / $4.00
    • Context262K
  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 35B-A3B

    Released Apr 17, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI143.9
    • Price$0.248 / $1.49
    • Context262K
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68/100, Grok 4.3 67/100, Kimi K2.7 Code 64/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2.7 Code for raw capability, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B on price and Grok 4.3 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityKimi K2.7 CodeCapabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2.7 Code 150.0 · Grok 4.3 149.2 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9
  • Lowest priceQwen3.6 35B-A3BQwen3.6 35B-A3B $0.557 · Grok 4.3 $1.56 · Kimi K2.7 Code $1.71 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGrok 4.3Grok 4.3 1,000,000 · Kimi K2.7 Code 262,144 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.6 35B-A3BGrok 4.3: Text, Images, PDFs · Kimi K2.7 Code: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingKimi K2.7 Code and Qwen3.6 35B-A3BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGrok 4.3Kimi K2.7 CodeQwen3.6 35B-A3B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%777870
Price25%413962
Inputs & features15%808090
Context window10%603737
Overall100%67/10064/10068/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Grok 4.3 vs Kimi K2.7 Code vs Qwen3.6 35B-A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationGrok 4.3xAIKimi K2.7 CodeMoonshot AIQwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)149.2150.0 (best)143.9
ECI rank#55 of 148#49 of 148 (best)#83 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.8% (best)87.9%84.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics42.8%54.0% (best)20.4%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics93.3%95.6% (best)86.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions33.2%36.5% (best)—
Price per million tokens
Input$1.25$0.95$0.248 (best)
Output$2.50$4.00$1.49 (best)
Cached input$0.20$0.19 (best)—
Blended (3:1)$1.56$1.71$0.557 (best)
Long-context rateOver 200K: $2.50 / $5.00Same rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial xAI APIOfficial Moonshot AI APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output30,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioNoNoYes
VideoNoYesYes
ReasoningYeslow · medium · highYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgrok-4.3kimi-k2.7-codeqwen3.6-35b-a3b
API providers2751 (best)34
ReleasedApr 17, 2026Jun 12, 2026Apr 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 2025—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Grok 4.3$17.50
  • Kimi K2.7 Code$17.50
  • Qwen3.6 35B-A3B$5.45
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Grok 4.3, Kimi K2.7 Code or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68/100, Grok 4.3 67/100, Kimi K2.7 Code 64/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2.7 Code for raw capability, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B on price and Grok 4.3 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Grok 4.3, Kimi K2.7 Code or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is cheaper at $0.248 input / $1.49 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Grok 4.3 costs $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price); Kimi K2.7 Code costs $0.95 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (official Moonshot AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.557 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B versus $1.56 for Grok 4.3 (2.8× as much) and $1.71 for Kimi K2.7 Code (3.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Kimi K2.7 Code scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2.7 Code 150.0 (#49 of 148), Grok 4.3 149.2 (#55 of 148) and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9 (#83 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (148.1–151.8 vs 147.6–150.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.3 88.8%, Kimi K2.7 Code 87.9%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 84.9%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Kimi K2.7 Code 54.0%, Grok 4.3 42.8%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 20.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Kimi K2.7 Code 95.6%, Grok 4.3 93.3%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 86.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.3, Kimi K2.7 Code and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Kimi K2.7 Code leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Grok 4.3 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Kimi K2.7 Code and 262,144 for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.3 up to 30,000, Kimi K2.7 Code up to 262,144, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Grok 4.3 accepts text, images and PDFs; Kimi K2.7 Code accepts text, images and video; Qwen3.6 35B-A3B accepts text, images, audio and video. Qwen3.6 35B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Kimi K2.7 Code and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.3 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Kimi K2.7 Code is the newest, released Jun 12, 2026. Grok 4.3 came out Apr 17, 2026; Qwen3.6 35B-A3B came out Apr 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Kimi K2.7 Code Jan 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.