Model Comparison

Kimi K3 vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3BWhich is better in 2026?

Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Kimi K3 vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B — which is better?

Kimi K3 (by Moonshot AI) and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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 K3 outperforms in 7 benchmarks (CharXiv-R, GDPval-AA, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, MCP Atlas, MMMU-Pro, Toolathlon), while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is better at 0 benchmarks. Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Kimi K3 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 7 of 7 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2026

Choose Qwen3.6-35B-A3B if…

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

7 benchmarks

Kimi K3 outperforms in 7 benchmarks (CharXiv-R, GDPval-AA, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, MCP Atlas, MMMU-Pro, Toolathlon), while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is better at 0 benchmarks.

Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

2765.0B diff

Kimi K3 has 2765.0B more parameters than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B, making it 7900.0% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K3
2.8Tparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
35.0Bparameters
2800.0B
Kimi K3
35.0B
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Kimi K3 specifies input context (1,048,576 tokens). Only Kimi K3 specifies output context (1,048,576 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K3
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output1,048,576 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Jul 21 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Kimi K3 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Kimi K3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K3 was released on 2026-07-16, while Qwen3.6-35B-A3B was released on 2026-04-16.

Kimi K3 is 3 months newer than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.

Kimi K3

Jul 16, 2026

5 days ago

3mo newer
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Apr 16, 2026

3 months ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Key Takeaways

Larger context window (1,048,576 tokens)
Higher CharXiv-R score (91.3% vs 78.0%)
Higher GDPval-AA score (55.6% vs 35.2%)
Higher GPQA score (93.5% vs 86.0%)
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (56.0% vs 21.4%)
Higher MCP Atlas score (84.2% vs 62.8%)
Higher MMMU-Pro score (81.6% vs 75.3%)
Higher Toolathlon score (73.2% vs 26.9%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Kimi K3 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K3
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Moonshot AI
Kimi K3
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K3 vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.

Which is better, Kimi K3 or Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

Kimi K3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K3 is made by Moonshot AI and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Kimi K3 compare to Qwen3.6-35B-A3B in benchmarks?

Kimi K3 scores MathVision: 97.8%, DeepSearchQA: 95.0%, GPQA: 93.5%, CharXiv-R: 91.3%, BrowseComp: 91.2%. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B scores MMLU-Redux: 93.3%, MMBench-V1.1: 92.8%, AI2D: 92.7%, AIME 2026: 92.7%, RefCOCO-avg: 92.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K3 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

Kimi K3 supports 1.0M tokens and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Kimi K3 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

Key differences include licensing (Unknown vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K3 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

Kimi K3 is developed by Moonshot AI and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.