Grok 3 Turbo vs Kimi K2: which model should you choose?
We compared Grok 3 Turbo and Kimi K2 on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Grok 3 Turbo has the stronger average benchmark score; Kimi K2 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
Grok 3 Turbo
Grok 3 Turbo is a multimodal model from xAI. It offers a 128,000-token context window, costs $15.97 per million input tokens and $70.13 per million output tokens, and averages 83.1 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $15.97 / 1M
- Output
- $70.13 / 1M
- Context
- 128,000
- Avg score
- 83.1
- Open weights
- No
Kimi K2
Kimi K2 is a multimodal model from Moonshot AI. It offers a 128,000-token context window, costs $5.85 per million input tokens and $21.72 per million output tokens, and averages 83.0 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $5.85 / 1M
- Output
- $21.72 / 1M
- Context
- 128,000
- Avg score
- 83.0
- Open weights
- Yes
Specification comparison
| Spec | Grok 3 Turbo | Kimi K2 | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $15.97 | $5.85 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $70.13 | $21.72 | B |
| Context window | 128,000 | 128,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 65,536 | 65,536 | Tie |
| Average score | 83.1 | 83.0 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1438.4 | 1458.5 | B |
| Open weights | No | Yes | B |
Benchmark comparison
Grok 3 Turbo wins 6, Kimi K2 wins 6, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | Grok 3 Turbo | Kimi K2 | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 83.7 | 83.3 | 0.4 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| GPQA Diamond | 79.1 | 77.5 | 1.6 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| SWE-bench Verified | 71.4 | 70.2 | 1.2 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| HumanEval | 86.8 | 87.1 | 0.3 | Kimi K2 |
| MATH-500 | 85.6 | 85.3 | 0.3 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| AIME 2025 | 83.1 | 85.1 | 2.0 | Kimi K2 |
| LiveCodeBench | 76.4 | 78.5 | 2.1 | Kimi K2 |
| IFEval | 90.7 | 91.5 | 0.8 | Kimi K2 |
| TruthfulQA | 86.0 | 84.8 | 1.2 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| HellaSwag | 90.2 | 92.3 | 2.1 | Kimi K2 |
| MMMU | 81.3 | 77.5 | 3.8 | Grok 3 Turbo |
| Arena Elo | 1438.4 | 1458.5 | 20.1 | Kimi K2 |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, Grok 3 Turbo costs about $29.51 per million tokens and Kimi K2 costs about $9.82. Kimi K2 is roughly 67% cheaper than Grok 3 Turbo. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 128,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, Grok 3 Turbo wins 6, Kimi K2 wins 6, and 0 are tied. On the index average, Grok 3 Turbo leads Kimi K2 by 0.1 points (83.1 versus 83.0).
The price picture favours Kimi K2. The context picture is effectively a tie. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 Turbo for quality-sensitive work and Kimi K2 for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose Grok 3 Turbo if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
Choose Kimi K2 if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need open weights for self-hosting or fine-tuning.
FAQ
Is Grok 3 Turbo better than Kimi K2?
On the index average, Grok 3 Turbo leads Kimi K2 by 0.1 points (83.1 versus 83.0). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. Grok 3 Turbo wins 6 benchmarks, Kimi K2 wins 6.
Which is cheaper, Grok 3 Turbo or Kimi K2?
Kimi K2 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $9.82 per million tokens, versus $29.51 for Grok 3 Turbo.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 128,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
Grok 3 Turbo is proprietary; Kimi K2 is open weights.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Grok 3 Turbo for quality-sensitive work and Kimi K2 for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.