Claude Haiku 5.5 vs Kimi K3
Claude Haiku 5.5 scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (74 vs 60 out of 100). Claude Haiku 5.5 is about 12× cheaper per blended million tokens ($0.20 vs $2.31, one figure an Artificial Analysis estimate). On Artificial Analysis' independent Intelligence Index, Kimi K3 leads 44 to 43.
| Claude Haiku 5.5 · Anthropic | Kimi K3 · Moonshot | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard rank | #7 | #11 |
| Score (0–100) | 74 | 60 |
| Tier | Fast and cheap | Open weights |
| Price per 1M tokens | $0.10 in · $0.50 out | $2.31 blended (estimate) |
| Context window | 1M | Not verified |
| Open weights | No | Yes |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 43 | 44 |
| Arena text score | — | 1488 |
| Best for | Classification and extraction, Routing tiers, Latency-sensitive paths | Self-hosting, Open-licence requirements, Arena-style chat quality |
Choose Claude Haiku 5.5 if…
- you need classification and extraction
- you need routing tiers
- you need latency-sensitive paths
Ten cents a million and, per the people using it, smarter than the other ten-cent model; mind the 100K cliff.
Caveats: Price jumps five-fold above 100K input tokens, which commenters call an absurdly low cutoff for agent runs.
Choose Kimi K3 if…
- you need self-hosting
- you need open-licence requirements
- you need arena-style chat quality
The highest-placed open-licence model on Arena, and the one most teams have not tried yet.
Caveats: Price is Artificial Analysis' blended figure, not a vendor list price; context not verified from a primary source.
What practitioners say
Claude Haiku 5.5: The thread had over a thousand points in a day; the recurring reports are near-perfect structured classification in production and 'noticeably smarter than GPT-6 Luna', against complaints about the 100K pricing tier.
Questions people ask
Which is better, Claude Haiku 5.5 or Kimi K3?
Claude Haiku 5.5 scores higher on the Models at Work leaderboard (74 vs 60 out of 100). Claude Haiku 5.5 is about 12× cheaper per blended million tokens ($0.20 vs $2.31, one figure an Artificial Analysis estimate). On Artificial Analysis' independent Intelligence Index, Kimi K3 leads 44 to 43.
When should I choose Claude Haiku 5.5 over Kimi K3?
Choose Claude Haiku 5.5 for classification and extraction, routing tiers, latency-sensitive paths. Ten cents a million and, per the people using it, smarter than the other ten-cent model; mind the 100K cliff.
When should I choose Kimi K3 over Claude Haiku 5.5?
Choose Kimi K3 for self-hosting, open-licence requirements, arena-style chat quality. The highest-placed open-licence model on Arena, and the one most teams have not tried yet.
Which is cheaper, Claude Haiku 5.5 or Kimi K3?
Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens on Anthropic's list price (Claude pricing, read Oct 10, 2026). Moonshot does not publish a simple list price for Kimi K3; Artificial Analysis estimates a blended $2.31 per million tokens (three input to one output).
Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100: 50% independent evals normalised within this table, 20% price-performance, 15% practitioner sentiment from Signals and community threads, 15% operational fit (context, speed, availability, open weights). Models within three points are a tie in practice. Vendor-published figures are labelled as such and never counted as independent. Prices are vendor list prices where published; blended figures assume three input tokens per output token.