Kimi K3 vs Mercury 3
Kimi K3 leads the LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 36.1. Mercury 3 is 35.1x cheaper per token.
Moonshot AI · Inception · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Kimi K3 leads the overall LLM Stats Score 51.9 to 36.1, ranking #14 overall.
In the 2 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Kimi K3 wins 2; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, Mercury 3 is roughly 35.1x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Kimi K3 also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Kimi K3
- overall performance matters — it scores 51.9 and ranks #14 on LLM Stats
- your work emphasizes reasoning and agents — it leads those capability indexes
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 2 of 2 exact shared results
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Choose Mercury 3
- cost matters — it's about 35.1x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Individual benchmarks
31 reported for Kimi K3 · 12 for Mercury 3
Kimi K3 outperforms in 2 benchmarks (DeepSearchQA, GPQA), while Mercury 3 is better at 0 benchmarks.
Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Kimi K3 ($2.85/1M tokens) is 28.5x more expensive than Mercury 3 ($0.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, Kimi K3 ($14.25/1M tokens) is 40.7x more expensive than Mercury 3 ($0.35/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Kimi K3 is more expensive than Mercury 3.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Kimi K3 accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Mercury 3's 1,000,000 tokens. Kimi K3 can generate longer responses up to 1,048,576 tokens, while Mercury 3 is limited to 131,072 tokens.
Input capabilities
Documented input modalities across available providers
Kimi K3 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Mercury 3 does not.
Kimi K3 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Kimi K3
Mercury 3
License
Usage and distribution terms
Kimi K3 is licensed under Kimi K3 License, while Mercury 3 uses a proprietary license.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Kimi K3 License
Open weights
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Kimi K3 was released on 2026-07-16, while Mercury 3 was released on 2026-10-19.
Mercury 3 is 3 months newer than Kimi K3.
Jul 16, 2026
3 months ago
Oct 19, 2026
3 days ago
3mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Kimi K3 is available from DeepInfra, Fireworks, Moonshot AI, Novita, Together. Mercury 3 is available from Inception.
Kimi K3
Mercury 3
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Kimi K3 and Mercury 3 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Kimi K3 vs Mercury 3.