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Qwen 3.8 Max vs Kimi K3
Of the 6 public leaderboards that rate both, Qwen 3.8 Max scores higher on 3 and Kimi K3 on 3. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Qwen 3.8 Max is at 50.2 and Kimi K3 at 60.4 (out of 100).
Scores as published by each board; table composed September 24, 2026.
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Leaderboard by leaderboard
| Board | Qwen 3.8 Max | Kimi K3 | Higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMArena Elo (community votes) | 1,671.2 | 1,659.6 | Qwen 3.8 Max |
| LiveBench global average (0-100) | 78.5 | 79.2 | Kimi K3 |
| SimpleBench AVG@5 % (private set) | 62.5 | 60.7 | Qwen 3.8 Max |
| LLM Stats LLM Stats Score · composite (0-100), their rendered top 15 | 51.5 | 52.5 | Kimi K3 |
| Vals AI Vals Index accuracy % · weighted finance + coding tasks | 51.8 | 57.8 | Kimi K3 |
| Artificial Analysis intelligence index · measured runs only | 45.4 | 43.6 | Qwen 3.8 Max |
Raw scores are each board's own scale, so compare within a row, not across rows. Full table: the bench index.
Qwen 3.8 Max at a glance
- Developer
- Alibaba
- Status
- Live since August 1, 2026
Live - flagship since Aug 1 · 2.4T tier listed Aug 12.
Qwen3.8-Max quietly lost its preview label — Alibaba is now serving it as the flagship
2026-08-03 · Alibaba is serving Qwen3.8-Max on chat.qwen.ai under the plain id `qwen3.8-max`. The preview suffix is gone.
Kimi K3 at a glance
- Developer
- Moonshot
- Status
- Live since July 15, 2026
Live — dropped Jul 15 · 2.8T · open weights landed Jul 28 (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.
Qwen 3.8 Max vs Kimi K3: quick answers
Which is better, Qwen 3.8 Max or Kimi K3?
It depends on what you measure. Of the 6 public leaderboards that rate both, Qwen 3.8 Max scores higher on 3 and Kimi K3 on 3. Qwen 3.8 Max's widest lead is on SimpleBench; Kimi K3's widest lead is on Vals AI. On the ArtificialWatch Index, which takes the median of each model's percentile across the boards that score it, Qwen 3.8 Max is at 50.2 and Kimi K3 at 60.4 (out of 100).
Which is newer, Qwen 3.8 Max or Kimi K3?
Qwen 3.8 Max. It went live on August 1, 2026, 17 days after Kimi K3 (July 15, 2026).
Who makes Qwen 3.8 Max and Kimi K3?
Qwen 3.8 Max is from Alibaba; 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 September 24, 2026). Boards measure different things, so raw scores are only comparable within a row.
More comparisons
Watch free: Chrome push the moment a new model answers on a public API, an email about 15 minutes later. Also: the bench index · the wire