Model Comparison
Kimi-k1.5 vs o3-miniWhich is better in 2026?
o3-mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Verdict: Kimi-k1.5 vs o3-mini — which is better?
Kimi-k1.5 (by Moonshot AI) and o3-mini (by OpenAI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
Kimi-k1.5 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU), while o3-mini is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2024, IFEval). o3-mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Choose Kimi-k1.5 if…
- you are already invested in the Moonshot AI ecosystem
Choose o3-mini if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Kimi-k1.5 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU), while o3-mini is better at 2 benchmarks (AIME 2024, IFEval).
o3-mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Only o3-mini specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only o3-mini specifies output context (100,000 tokens).
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Kimi-k1.5 supports multimodal inputs, whereas o3-mini does not.
Kimi-k1.5 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Kimi-k1.5
o3-mini
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Kimi-k1.5 was released on 2025-01-20, while o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30.
o3-mini is 0 month newer than Kimi-k1.5.
Jan 20, 2025
1.5 years ago
Jan 30, 2025
1.5 years ago
1w newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
o3-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-09-30, while Kimi-k1.5's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm o3-mini's training data extends to 2023-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Kimi-k1.5's cutoff date.
—
Sep 2023
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Kimi-k1.5
View detailsMoonshot AI
o3-mini
View detailsOpenAI
Detailed Comparison
Interactive Arena
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Kimi-k1.5 and o3-mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Kimi-k1.5 vs o3-mini.