Kimi K3 vs Aion-Mini
Benchmarks, API Token Pricing, Context Window & Speed Comparison
Related topics (4)
Compare Kimi K3 by Moonshot AI against Aion-Mini by AionLabs across real-world coding, reasoning, token economics, and latency.
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Kimi K3
2.8T Open ReasonerMonumental 2.8-trillion parameter open-weights multimodal frontier model featuring 1M context window and toggleable max-effort thinking.
$0.00 / 1M
$0.00 / 1M
1.05M tokens
74.5%
Aion-Mini
Reasoning DuoCompact reasoning model engineered for fast scientific data triage, laboratory metadata tagging, and quick entity extraction.
$0.08 / 1M
$0.32 / 1M
131.1K tokens
N/A
Key Differences at a Glance
- Kimi K3 is 1.0x cheaper for API usage (input + output tokens combined).
- Kimi K3 has a larger context window (1M vs 131K tokens).
- Aion-Mini is faster at 150 tok/s vs 58 tok/s.
| Feature | Kimi K3 | Aion-Mini |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Composite reasoning & knowledge score (0-100) | 93 | 74 |
Provider | Moonshot AI | AionLabs |
Input Price Cost per million input tokens | $0.00 / 1M | $0.08 / 1M |
Output Price Cost per million output tokens | $0.00 / 1M | $0.32 / 1M |
Blended Price Weighted 7:2:1 cache:input:output per 1M | $0.00 / 1M | $0.05 / 1M |
Context Window Maximum input + output tokens | 1.05M tokens~1,573 A4 pages of text | 131.1K tokens~197 A4 pages of text |
Max Output Tokens Per single request | 131K | 8K |
Throughput Speed Tokens generated per second | 58 tok/s | 150 tok/s |
SWE-bench Verified Real-world software engineering | 74.5% | N/A |
GPQA Diamond Graduate-level reasoning | 79% | N/A |
Cached Input Price Prompt caching discount per 1M tokens | $0.00 / 1M | $0.01 / 1M |
Who Wins Where?
At-a-glance decision frameworkEvaluations ongoing
Empirical Head-to-Head Benchmark Scores
Official evaluation metrics verified by independent third-party research labs.
Industry benchmark evaluating real-world GitHub issue resolution and multi-file debugging.
Challenging questions created by domain experts to test complex PhD-level reasoning.
Hardened reasoning and academic knowledge benchmark with reduced lucky-guess probability.
Crowdsourced human preference evaluation based on blind, head-to-head model battles.
Tokens emitted per second during active generation streaming.
Latency & Response Time
Time to first token (TTFT) and estimated end-to-end response time for a typical 500-token response.
Real-Time Interactive Token Cost Simulator
Adjust sliders to calculate projected monthly cloud API spending with prompt caching discounts.
Kimi K3 · Strengths & Key Advantages
- Largest open-weights foundation model in existence (2.8T parameters)
- 1480 LMSYS Chatbot Arena Elo rivaling proprietary closed frontier leaders
- Full 1M token context window paired with massive 131K max output tokens
Considerations & Trade-offs
- Extreme hardware prerequisites (distributed multi-node cluster deployment)
- Generates extensive reasoning traces that demand careful token budget management
Aion-Mini · Strengths & Key Advantages
- Fast 150 tokens/sec throughput with low initial latency
- Affordable $0.08 / 1M input tokens price structure
- Specialized scientific tokenization minimizing word fragmentation
Considerations & Trade-offs
- Lower capability on deep multi-page mathematical derivations
- Not suited for long-horizon autonomous agents
Token Use & Task Economics
Estimated cost and token consumption to complete one representative agentic task.
| Metric | Kimi K3 | Aion-Mini |
|---|---|---|
Cost per Task Estimated USD to finish one task | $2.00 | $0.03 |
Output Tokens / Task Tokens generated per task | 35K | 10K |
Reasoning Tokens / Task Thinking tokens burned per task | 18K | 1K |
Technical Specifications
Architecture, release timeline, capabilities, and modalities.
| Feature | Kimi K3 | Aion-Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Official API Model ID (SDK) | kimi-k3 | aion-mini |
| API Protocol | OpenAI-Compatible REST / vLLM / SGLang / HuggingFace TGI | AionLabs REST API (OpenAI-Compatible) |
| Release Date | 2026-07 | 2026-07 |
| Knowledge Cutoff | March 2026 | May 2026 |
| Architecture | Colossus-Scale Multimodal Sparse Mixture-of-Experts | Compact Scientific Routing Transformer |
| Parameters | 2.8T total (MoE) | Confidential |
| Enterprise Rate Limits (RPM / TPM) | Unlimited (Hardware-bound on self-hosted GPU) / 10,000 RPM Cloud · Unlimited local throughput / 10M+ TPM Managed Cloud | 5,000 – 15,000 RPM (Production Tier) · 800,000 – 2,000,000 TPM |
| Long-Context Tier (>128K/200K) | Free across full context window (only KV-cache VRAM scales) | Flat rate ($0.08/1M in) across full 131K window |
| Prompt Cache Policy & TTL | Automatic prefix KV-caching in vLLM / SGLang (0 cost) | Cached input at $0.008/1M tokens |
| Computer Use / GUI Agent | Supported (Screen coordinate grounding, browser & desktop GUI action loops) | API / CLI Tool-Use & DOM Agent ready (no raw pixel desktop click loop) |
| MCP & Parallel Tool Calling | Native MCP Client/Server ready · Parallel function calling · 100% Strict JSON Schema | Native MCP Client/Server ready · Parallel function calling · 100% Strict JSON Schema |
| Web Search Grounding & Sandbox | Supported via external Tavily/Exa Search & E2B/Docker Sandbox tools | Supported via external Tavily/Exa Search & E2B/Docker Sandbox tools |
| Official Fine-Tuning Support | Full Weights SFT, LoRA, QLoRA, DPO & GRPO RL (Unsloth / Axolotl / Llama-Factory) | API Prompt Engineering & RAG Distillation |
| Multimodal Token Billing | Text BPE (~4 chars/token) · Vision (~258–765 tokens per image tile) | Text BPE (~4 chars/token) |
| Quantization & Min GPU VRAM | BF16 / FP16, FP8 Dynamic, INT4 AWQ / GPTQ, GGUF (Q4_K_M / Q8_0) · 1736 GB VRAM (4-bit Quantized) · 6020 GB VRAM (Native BF16) | Cloud-Hosted Proprietary (FP8 / BF16 Tensor Core Cluster) · Zero Local VRAM Required (100% Serverless Cloud API) |
| Safety & Frontier Classification | Open-Weights System Card + Customizable Guardrail Layer (Llama Guard / ShieldGemma) | AionLabs Production Safety & Alignment Verified |
| Enterprise Compliance (ZDR/HIPAA/SOC2) | 100% Air-Gapped On-Premises / Private VPC · Full HIPAA, GDPR & SOC2 Control | SOC2 Type II · GDPR · Zero Data Retention (ZDR) & HIPAA BAA Available on Enterprise Tier |
| Input Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Output Modalities | text | text |
Kimi K3 vs Aion-Mini: Quick Answers
Which is more intelligent, Kimi K3 or Aion-Mini?
Kimi K3 is more intelligent. It scores 93 compared with 74 on the composite Intelligence Index.
Which model is faster?
Aion-Mini is faster, generating 150 tokens per second compared with 58 tokens per second.
Which model is cheaper to run?
Kimi K3 is cheaper at $0.00 per 1M tokens blended, compared with $0.05 (7:2:1 cache:input:output ratio).
Which model has lower latency?
Aion-Mini has lower latency, with a time to first token of 0.28s compared with 0.72s.
Which model has a larger context window?
Kimi K3 has a larger context window, supporting 1.05M tokens compared with 131.1K tokens.
Verdict
Choose Kimi K3 for national ai research facilities, sovereign enterprise clouds, and frontier stem reasoning, or choose Aion-Mini for scientific paper metadata extraction, lab sample tagging, and rapid medical triage.
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper: Kimi K3 or Aion-Mini?+
Kimi K3 costs $0/1M input and $0/1M output tokens, while Aion-Mini costs $0.08/1M input and $0.32/1M output tokens.
Which model has a larger context window: Kimi K3 or Aion-Mini?+
Kimi K3 supports 1.0M tokens whereas Aion-Mini supports 131K tokens.
Understand key metrics like context window, token pricing, reasoning mode, and SWE-bench scores in our comprehensive AI glossary.
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Benchmark scores, token prices, and rate limits evolve rapidly as AI labs release model updates. Always verify current specifications and pricing on the official provider documentation.
Sources: Moonshot AI & AionLabs Official Documentation