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Head-to-head comparison

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs Kimi K3

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp (DeepSeek) and Kimi K3 (Moonshot AI) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 9 September 2026

As of 9 September 2026, Kimi K3 holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#6 vs #23); DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp is 22.7× cheaper per output token ($0.66/1M vs $15.00/1M); and DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp if…

  • API cost matters — $0.66/1M output tokens against $15.00/1M, about 22.7× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.22/1M against $3.00/1M.
  • you want to self-host: DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp ships open weights while Kimi K3 is restricted license.
  • you want the more recently listed model — DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp was listed 21 August 2026, Kimi K3 16 July 2026.

Choose Kimi K3 if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #6 against #23 (82.6 vs 71.2 points).
  • you want provider choice — 16 listed API providers against 6.

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs Kimi K3: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp and Kimi K3
FieldDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpDeepSeekKimi K3Moonshot AI
ModelCap Index position#23#6
Index score71.282.6
EvidenceEstimatedMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.22$3.00
Output price / 1M tokens$0.66$15.00
Context window1M tokens1M tokens
Max output tokens944K944K
API providers listed616
Weight accessOpen weightsRestricted license
Input modalitiesText, ImageText, Image, Video
First listed21 August 202616 July 2026
PublisherDeepSeekMoonshot AI

Evidence: publisher-corpus-prior over 182 held-out anchors (13%); launch card against 2 resolved peers on 7 rows (87%); exceeds every named peer on 1 of 7 rows; no cross-lab optimism probe available; shrunk 2 toward the measured corpus · 6 public benchmark observations across 6 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs Kimi K3

Public benchmark boards where DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp or Kimi K3 has a published result
BoardDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpKimi K3Leads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)—15421533–1551MaxOnly one result
LMArena AgentLMArena—6.6%5.9%–7.3%MaxOnly one result
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation—60.4%MaxOnly one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—43.8intelligence-index:v4.3:maxOnly one result
AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Artificial Analysis—85.0%terminal-bench:2.1:terminus-2:e2b:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="Kimi K3 (max)":reasoning=trueOnly one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis—46.9%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="Kimi K3 (max)":reasoning=trueOnly one result
WildClawBench OpenClawWildClawBench—54.5Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs Kimi K3: common questions

Is DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp better than Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 9 September 2026: #6 against #23. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp cheaper than Kimi K3?

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp is cheaper on output tokens: $0.66/1M against $15.00/1M. Input tokens are $0.22/1M for DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp and $3.00/1M for Kimi K3. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $0.77 for DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp versus $13.50 for Kimi K3. DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp costs 94.3% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp or Kimi K3?

Both publish a 1M-token context window.

Which is better for coding, DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp or Kimi K3?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp and Kimi K3 open-weight models?

DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp: Open weights. Kimi K3: Restricted license. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp and Kimi K3?

ModelCap currently lists 6 API providers for DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp and 16 for Kimi K3, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp vs Kimi K3 comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 9 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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