Kimi K3.1 Pro and what to use instead
For coding help for non-developers, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 79 and costs $21.00 per 1,000 requests. Here’s what beats it on price, on quality, or on privacy.
Cheaper at similar quality
At least 30% cheaper and within 5 points.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017DeepSeek · open weightsAbout 87% cheaper per request, and 5 points weaker.$2.70 per 1,000 requests · score 74Compare side by side →
Muse Spark 1.3MetaAbout 52% cheaper per request, and 4 points weaker.$10.13 per 1,000 requests · score 75Compare side by side →
Better at a similar price
At least 5 points stronger and no more than 20% dearer.
Claude Sonnet 5.5AnthropicSame price per request, and 8 points stronger.$21.00 per 1,000 requests · score 87Compare side by side →
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogleSame price per request, and 5 points stronger.$21.00 per 1,000 requests · score 84Compare side by side →
Open weights you can host
Ranked by value: quality for the money.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017DeepSeek · open weightsAbout 87% cheaper per request, and 5 points weaker.$2.70 per 1,000 requests · score 74Compare side by side →
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai · open weightsAbout 94% cheaper per request, and 10 points weaker.$1.20 per 1,000 requests · score 69Compare side by side →
Kimi K3Moonshot AI · open weightsAbout 50% dearer per request, and 5 points weaker.$31.50 per 1,000 requests · score 74Compare side by side →
Scores are provisional (Arena and Epoch AI) and prices are list prices. Rankings never take money into account. Thresholds are in the methodology.