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Claude Opus 5 vs Kimi K3
Claude Opus 5 scores higher than Kimi K3 on both public leaderboards that rate them. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Claude Opus 5 is at 74.1 and Kimi K3 at 27.1 (out of 100). On each maker's API, Claude Opus 5 costs $5 / $25 per 1M tokens (input / output) and Kimi K3 $3 / $15.
Scores as published by each board; table composed November 7, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Claude Opus 5 | Kimi K3 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,691.3 | 1,656.5 | Claude Opus 5 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 80.6 | 60.7 | Claude Opus 5 |
Raw scores are each board's own scale, so compare within a row, not across rows. Full table: the bench index.
For coding
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Claude Opus 5 is at 86.7 (#6 of 45) and Kimi K3 at 66 (#16). Claude Opus 5 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
| Coding board | Claude Opus 5 | Kimi K3 |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena · Coding | 1,532.7 | 1,506.5 |
| Vals Vibe Code Bench | 88.4 | 85 |
Claude Opus 5 at a glance
- Developer
- Anthropic
- Status
- Live since July 24, 2026
- API price
- $5 input / $25 output per 1M tokens · Anthropic, claude-opus-5
- Context window
- 1M tokens
Live — detected 16:51 UTC Jul 24, alert fired 61s later · superseded by Opus 5.5 on Sep 22 and moved to Anthropic's legacy list; still served at $5/$25, which is now MORE than its successor.
Claude Opus 5 is live — we detected it at 16:51 UTC and had alerts out 61 seconds later
2026-07-24 · Anthropic's Claude Opus 5 went live on the public API today. Our checkers saw the id appear at 16:51:33 UTC, confirmed it on the next 60-second sweep, and the alert blast went out at 16:52:34 — sixty-one seconds from first sighting to inbox.
Kimi K3 at a glance
- Developer
- Moonshot
- Status
- Live since July 15, 2026
- API price
- $3 input / $15 output per 1M tokens · Moonshot AI, kimi-k3
- Context window
- 1.05M tokens
Live — dropped Jul 15 · 2.8T · open weights landed Jul 27 (1.56 TB, MXFP4).
Kimi K3, day one: impressive, expensive, and a little slow
2026-07-16 · Kimi K3 has been live for a day, and the picture forming is more interesting than the launch-night hype. Here's everything we're seeing so far.
Claude Opus 5 vs Kimi K3: quick answers
Which is better, Claude Opus 5 or Kimi K3?
It depends on what you measure. Claude Opus 5 scores higher than Kimi K3 on both public leaderboards that rate them. Claude Opus 5's widest lead is on SimpleBench. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Claude Opus 5 is at 74.1 and Kimi K3 at 27.1 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Claude Opus 5 or Kimi K3?
Claude Opus 5. It went live on July 24, 2026, 9 days after Kimi K3 (July 15, 2026).
Which is cheaper, Claude Opus 5 or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3 is cheaper on both input and output. On each vendor's own API, Claude Opus 5 is $5 input / $25 output per million tokens and Kimi K3 is $3 input / $15 output per million tokens. Prices as published in the models.dev catalog, as of 2026-11-07.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Opus 5 or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3, at 1.05M tokens against Claude Opus 5's 1M, as each vendor lists it.
How do Claude Opus 5 and Kimi K3 compare for coding?
On the ArtificialWatch coding index, Claude Opus 5 is at 86.7 (#6 of 45) and Kimi K3 at 66 (#16). Claude Opus 5 scores higher on both coding boards that rate them.
Who makes Claude Opus 5 and Kimi K3?
Claude Opus 5 is from Anthropic; Kimi K3 is from Moonshot.
Where do these numbers come from?
Each score is the leaderboard's own published figure, read by ArtificialWatch (table composed November 7, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
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