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GPT-5.6 Luna vs Kimi K3

GPT-5.6 Luna

OpenAI

89#20
vs
Kimi K3

Moonshot AI

79#61
Signal-by-Signal Comparison
SignalGPT-5.6 LunaDeltaKimi K3
Capabilities
100
+17
83
Benchmarks
88
+10
78
Pricing
94
+9
85
Context window size
86
--
86
Recency
100
--
100
Output Capacity
85
+65
20
Overall Result
4 wins
of 6
0 wins
GPT-5.6 Luna wins 4 of 6 signals

Score History

Score History (2 data points)
GPT-5.6 LunaKimi K3
GPT-5.6 Luna

88.5

current score

Leader

GPT-5.6 Luna

right now

Kimi K3

78.8

current score

LMMarketCap.com
Interactive Price Comparison
100Kcalls/month
1,000tokens (~1,333 chars)
500tokens (~667 chars)

GPT-5.6 Luna

OpenAI

Best Value
Per request$0.004000
Daily$13.33
Monthly$400.00
Annual$4800.00

Kimi K3

Moonshot AI

Per request$0.010500
Daily$35.00
Monthly$1050.00
Annual$12600.00

GPT-5.6 Luna saves you $650.00/month

That's $7800.00/year compared to Kimi K3 at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.

62% cheaper
Choose GPT-5.6 Luna for cost optimization

GPT-5.6 Luna pricing:
Input:$1.00/M tokens
Output:$6.00/M tokens
Kimi K3 pricing:
Input:$3.00/M tokens
Output:$15.00/M tokens
Winner
GPT-5.6 Luna

OpenAI

89

Composite Score

Kimi K3

Moonshot AI

79

Composite Score

Signal-by-Signal Comparison
MetricGPT-5.6 LunaKimi K3Winner
Overall Score
89
79
GPT-5.6 Luna
Rank#20#61
GPT-5.6 Luna
Quality Rank#20#61
GPT-5.6 Luna
Adoption Rank#20#61
GPT-5.6 Luna
Parameters------
Context Window1050K1049K
GPT-5.6 Luna
Pricing$1.00/$6.00/M$3.00/$15.00/M--
Signal Scores
Capabilities
100
83
GPT-5.6 Luna
Benchmarks
88
78
GPT-5.6 Luna
Pricing
94
85
GPT-5.6 Luna
Context window size
86
86
GPT-5.6 Luna
Recency
100
100
GPT-5.6 Luna
Output Capacity
85
20
GPT-5.6 Luna
Benchmark Head-to-Head(11 benchmarks)
GPT-5.6 Luna: 0Kimi K3: 1
GPT-5.6 Luna
Kimi K3
Normalized 0-100%
MMLU
93%-
MMLU-Pro
84.5%-
GPQA Diamond
85%-
MATH-500
92.5%-
HumanEval
96.5%-
SWE-bench Verified
75%-
IFEval
92%-
BBH
90.5%-
Arena Elo
14651486
LiveBench
76%-
HLE
35%-
Benchmark Interpretation

Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.

GPT-5.6 LunaElite Tier

Scores 89/100 (rank #20), placing it in the top 93% of all 290 models tracked.

Raw Quality0/100
Cost Efficiency0/100
Speed0/100
Kimi K3Strong Performer

Scores 79/100 (rank #61), placing it in the top 79% of all 290 models tracked.

Raw Quality0/100
Cost Efficiency0/100
Speed0/100

GPT-5.6 Luna has a 10-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably better performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.

When to Use Each Model

Choose GPT-5.6 Luna when you need:

  • High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
  • Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving

Choose Kimi K3 when you need:

  • Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
Cost-Performance Analysis
GPT-5.6 LunaBest Value
Input cost$1.00/M tokens
Output cost$6.00/M tokens
Cost per quality point$0.079
Est. monthly (1M tokens/day)$105.00
Kimi K3
Input cost$3.00/M tokens
Output cost$15.00/M tokens
Cost per quality point$0.228
Est. monthly (1M tokens/day)$270.00

GPT-5.6 Luna offers 61% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $105.00/month with GPT-5.6 Luna vs $270.00/month with Kimi K3 - a $165.00 monthly difference.

Latency & Speed
GPT-5.6 LunaFaster
Speed score0/100
Kimi K3
Speed score0/100

Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.

When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.

Example Use Cases

Code generation & review

Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring

GPT-5.6 Luna

Customer support chatbot

Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. GPT-5.6 Luna also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support

GPT-5.6 Luna

Long document analysis

Larger context window (1050K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass

GPT-5.6 Luna

Batch data extraction

Lower output pricing ($6.00/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily

GPT-5.6 Luna

Creative writing & content

Higher overall composite score (89/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content

GPT-5.6 Luna

Image understanding & OCR

Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly

GPT-5.6 Luna
Which Should You Choose?
Our recommendation:
GPT-5.6 Luna

GPT-5.6 Luna has a moderate advantage with a 9.700000000000003-point lead in composite score. It wins on more signal dimensions, but Kimi K3 has specific strengths that could make it the better choice for certain workflows.

GPT-5.6 Luna
Recommended

by OpenAI

  • Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
  • Choose for Cost - 61% lower pricing; better value at scale
  • Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
  • Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
  • Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale

by Moonshot AI

Consider for specialized use cases.

Capability Comparison
CapabilityGPT-5.6 LunaKimi K3
Vision (Image Input)
Function Calling
Streaming
JSON Mode
Reasoning
Web Searchdiffers
Image Output
Monthly Cost Calculator
1,000tokens (600 in / 400 out)
100requests/day (3,000/month)

GPT-5.6 Luna

OpenAI

Best Value
$9.00
estimated monthly cost

Kimi K3

Moonshot AI

$23.40
estimated monthly cost

GPT-5.6 Luna saves you $14.40/month

That's 62% cheaper than Kimi K3 at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.

Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.

Parameters & Context
ParameterGPT-5.6 LunaKimi K3
Context Window1.1M1.0M
Max Output Tokens128,000--
Open SourceNoNo
CreatedJul 9, 2026Jul 16, 2026
Last updated: 30m ago

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