ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Kimi K3 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 comes out ahead, 79 to 65 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Moonshot AI

    Kimi K3

    Released Jul 16, 2026

    65/100
    • ECI158.3
    • Price$3.00 / $15.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Kimi K3
  2. Our pick

    DeepSeek

    DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017

    Released Oct 17, 2026New

    79/100
    • ECI158.8
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is our pick

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Kimi K3 (65). It leads on price. Kimi K3 wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityDeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 158.8 · Kimi K3 158.3
  • Lowest priceDeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 $0.263 · Kimi K3 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextKimi K3Kimi K3 1,048,576 · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsKimi K3Kimi K3: Text, Images, Video · DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightKimi K3DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8787
Price25%1274
Inputs & features15%8070
Context window10%6160
Overall100%65/10079/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Kimi K3 vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 specifications side by side
SpecificationKimi K3Moonshot AIDeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017DeepSeek
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)158.3158.8 (best)
ECI rank#20 of 165#19 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions93.1%93.2% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics72.2% (best)71.2%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics97.2%99.4% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions50.6% (best)42.5%
Price per million tokens
Input$3.00$0.15 (best)
Output$15.00$0.60 (best)
Cached input$0.30$0.003 (best)
Blended (3:1)$6.00$0.263 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Moonshot AI APIOfficial DeepSeek API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens384,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYeslow · high · maxYeslow · high · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenMIT
API model IDkimi-k3deepseek-flash
API providers76 (best)40
ReleasedJul 16, 2026Oct 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—May 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.

  • Kimi K3$60.00
  • DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017$2.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Kimi K3 or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Kimi K3 (65). It leads on price. Kimi K3 wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Kimi K3 or DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official DeepSeek API price). Kimi K3 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (official Moonshot AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 versus $6.00 for Kimi K3 (23× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 158.8 (#19 of 165) and Kimi K3 158.3 (#20 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (156.7–162.2 vs 155.8–161.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 93.2%, Kimi K3 93.1%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Kimi K3 72.2%, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 71.2%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 99.4%, Kimi K3 97.2%; SimpleQA Verified — Kimi K3 50.6%, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 42.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Kimi K3 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Kimi K3 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017. Maximum output per response: Kimi K3 up to 131,072, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 up to 384,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Kimi K3 accepts text, images and video; DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 accepts text and images. Kimi K3 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (MIT), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the newest, released Oct 17, 2026. Kimi K3 came out Jul 16, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 May 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons