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Head-to-Head Model Comparison

Kimi K3 vs Aya Expanse 8B

Benchmarks, API Token Pricing, Context Window & Speed Comparison

Reviewed by the GetInfoUs research teamLast reviewed: October 2026Editorial policy
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Moonshot AICohereflagshipopen-source

Compare Kimi K3 by Moonshot AI against Aya Expanse 8B by Cohere across real-world coding, reasoning, token economics, and latency.

Head-to-Head Comparison

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Moonshot AI

Kimi K3

2.8T Open Reasoner

Monumental 2.8-trillion parameter open-weights multimodal frontier model featuring 1M context window and toggleable max-effort thinking.

Intelligence Index93 / 100
Input Token:

$0.00 / 1M

Output Token:

$0.00 / 1M

Context Window:

1.05M tokens

SWE-bench Verified:

74.5%

Cohere

Aya Expanse 8B

Multilingual

Compact open multilingual model meticulously trained across 23 languages, bridging language divides in low-resource linguistic environments.

Intelligence Index36 / 100
Input Token:

$0.08 / 1M

Output Token:

$0.16 / 1M

Context Window:

8.2K tokens

SWE-bench Verified:

24%

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 8K tokens).
  • Aya Expanse 8B is faster at 135 tok/s vs 58 tok/s.
  • Kimi K3 leads on SWE-bench coding (74.5% vs 24.0%).
Need definitions for token pricing, context, or benchmarks?Explore AI Glossary →
FeatureKimi K3Aya Expanse 8B
Intelligence Index
Composite reasoning & knowledge score (0-100)
9336
Provider
Moonshot AICohere
Input Price
Cost per million input tokens
$0.00 / 1M$0.08 / 1M
Output Price
Cost per million output tokens
$0.00 / 1M$0.16 / 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 text8.2K tokens~12 A4 pages of text
Max Output Tokens
Per single request
131K4K
Throughput Speed
Tokens generated per second
58 tok/s135 tok/s
SWE-bench Verified
Real-world software engineering
74.5%24%
GPQA Diamond
Graduate-level reasoning
79%40%
Cached Input Price
Prompt caching discount per 1M tokens
$0.00 / 1M$0.02 / 1M

Who Wins Where?

At-a-glance decision framework
Coding
Kimi K3
+50.5% SWE-bench lead
Cost
Kimi K3
1.0x cheaper monthly runtime
Speed
Aya Expanse 8B
+133% faster generation
Context
Kimi K3
1.05M tokens window

Empirical Head-to-Head Benchmark Scores

Official evaluation metrics verified by independent third-party research labs.

Kimi K3Aya Expanse 8B
SWE-bench Verified (Autonomous Coding)

Industry benchmark evaluating real-world GitHub issue resolution and multi-file debugging.

74.5%vs24%
GPQA Diamond (Doctorate-Level Science & Math)

Challenging questions created by domain experts to test complex PhD-level reasoning.

79%vs40%
MMLU-Pro (Multi-task Language Understanding)

Hardened reasoning and academic knowledge benchmark with reduced lucky-guess probability.

88.8%vs62%
LMSYS Chatbot Arena Elo

Crowdsourced human preference evaluation based on blind, head-to-head model battles.

1480ptsvs1205pts
Generation Speed (Throughput)

Tokens emitted per second during active generation streaming.

58 tok/s vs135 tok/s

Latency & Response Time

Time to first token (TTFT) and estimated end-to-end response time for a typical 500-token response.

Time to First Token (TTFT)Lower is better
Kimi K30.72s
Aya Expanse 8B0.30s
Est. End-to-End Response (500 tokens)TTFT + generation time
Kimi K39.34s
Aya Expanse 8B4.00s

Real-Time Interactive Token Cost Simulator

Adjust sliders to calculate projected monthly cloud API spending with prompt caching discounts.

100K / day
10K500K1M
30K / day
5K150K300K
50% cached
0% (Cold)50%90% (Warm)
Kimi K3 Monthly API Bill
$0.00 / month
$0/1M in · $0/1M out
Aya Expanse 8B Monthly API Bill
$0.29 / month
$0.08/1M in · $0.16/1M out
Kimi K3 saves approximately $0.29 / month (100%) under this workload.1.0x Savings

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

Aya Expanse 8B · Strengths & Key Advantages

  • Purpose-built dataset covering 23 diverse languages with superior cultural context
  • Lightweight 8B footprint running smoothly on consumer and laptop GPUs
  • Strong multilingual translation and cross-lingual text summarization
Considerations & Trade-offs
  • Context window limited to 8K tokens
  • Lower capability on advanced coding and competition mathematics

Token Use & Task Economics

Estimated cost and token consumption to complete one representative agentic task.

MetricKimi K3Aya Expanse 8B
Cost per Task
Estimated USD to finish one task
$2.00$0.04
Output Tokens / Task
Tokens generated per task
35K18K
Reasoning Tokens / Task
Thinking tokens burned per task
18K0K

Technical Specifications

Architecture, release timeline, capabilities, and modalities.

FeatureKimi K3Aya Expanse 8B
Official API Model ID (SDK)kimi-k3aya-expanse-8b
API ProtocolOpenAI-Compatible REST / vLLM / SGLang / HuggingFace TGIOpenAI-Compatible REST / vLLM / SGLang / HuggingFace TGI
Release Date2026-072024-10
Knowledge CutoffMarch 2026August 2024
ArchitectureColossus-Scale Multimodal Sparse Mixture-of-ExpertsCompact Multilingual Dense Transformer
Parameters2.8T total (MoE)8B
Enterprise Rate Limits (RPM / TPM)Unlimited (Hardware-bound on self-hosted GPU) / 10,000 RPM Cloud · Unlimited local throughput / 10M+ TPM Managed CloudUnlimited (Hardware-bound on self-hosted GPU) / 10,000 RPM Cloud · Unlimited local throughput / 10M+ TPM Managed Cloud
Long-Context Tier (>128K/200K)Free across full context window (only KV-cache VRAM scales)Flat rate ($0.08/1M in) across full 8K window
Prompt Cache Policy & TTLAutomatic prefix KV-caching in vLLM / SGLang (0 cost)Cached input at $0.02/1M tokens
Computer Use / GUI AgentSupported (Screen coordinate grounding, browser & desktop GUI action loops)API / CLI Tool-Use & DOM Agent ready (no raw pixel desktop click loop)
MCP & Parallel Tool CallingNative MCP Client/Server ready · Parallel function calling · 100% Strict JSON SchemaNative MCP Client/Server ready · Parallel function calling · 100% Strict JSON Schema
Web Search Grounding & SandboxSupported via external Tavily/Exa Search & E2B/Docker Sandbox toolsSupported via external Tavily/Exa Search & E2B/Docker Sandbox tools
Official Fine-Tuning SupportFull Weights SFT, LoRA, QLoRA, DPO & GRPO RL (Unsloth / Axolotl / Llama-Factory)Full Weights SFT, LoRA, QLoRA, DPO & GRPO RL (Unsloth / Axolotl / Llama-Factory)
Multimodal Token BillingText BPE (~4 chars/token) · Vision (~258–765 tokens per image tile)Text BPE (~4 chars/token)
Quantization & Min GPU VRAMBF16 / FP16, FP8 Dynamic, INT4 AWQ / GPTQ, GGUF (Q4_K_M / Q8_0) · 1736 GB VRAM (4-bit Quantized) · 6020 GB VRAM (Native BF16)BF16 / FP16, FP8 Dynamic, INT4 AWQ / GPTQ, GGUF (Q4_K_M / Q8_0) · 5 GB VRAM (4-bit Quantized) · 17 GB VRAM (Native BF16)
Safety & Frontier ClassificationOpen-Weights System Card + Customizable Guardrail Layer (Llama Guard / ShieldGemma)Open-Weights System Card + Customizable Guardrail Layer (Llama Guard / ShieldGemma)
Enterprise Compliance (ZDR/HIPAA/SOC2)100% Air-Gapped On-Premises / Private VPC · Full HIPAA, GDPR & SOC2 Control100% Air-Gapped On-Premises / Private VPC · Full HIPAA, GDPR & SOC2 Control
Input Modalitiestext, visiontext
Output Modalitiestexttext

Kimi K3 vs Aya Expanse 8B: Quick Answers

Which is more intelligent, Kimi K3 or Aya Expanse 8B?

Kimi K3 is more intelligent. It scores 93 compared with 36 on the composite Intelligence Index.

Which model is faster?

Aya Expanse 8B is faster, generating 135 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?

Aya Expanse 8B has lower latency, with a time to first token of 0.30s compared with 0.72s.

Which model has a larger context window?

Kimi K3 has a larger context window, supporting 1.05M tokens compared with 8.2K tokens.

Verdict

Choose Kimi K3 for national ai research facilities, sovereign enterprise clouds, and frontier stem reasoning, or choose Aya Expanse 8B for multilingual customer interaction, low-resource language translation, and edge deployments.

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper: Kimi K3 or Aya Expanse 8B?+

Kimi K3 costs $0/1M input and $0/1M output tokens, while Aya Expanse 8B costs $0.08/1M input and $0.16/1M output tokens.

Which model has a larger context window: Kimi K3 or Aya Expanse 8B?+

Kimi K3 supports 1.0M tokens whereas Aya Expanse 8B supports 8K tokens.

AI Terminology & Guide
Explore Glossary →

Understand key metrics like context window, token pricing, reasoning mode, and SWE-bench scores in our comprehensive AI glossary.

Tokens & PricingContext WindowAI BenchmarksReasoning ModelsTool CallingModel Context Protocol (MCP)

Related reading

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 & Cohere Official Documentation