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Model comparison

Kimi K3 vs Step 3.7 Flash

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 19 shared benchmark results across 5 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

Moonshot AI
80.96/100
Margin
30.1pts
← winning
50.87/100
1 category wins0 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Kimi K3 #4 (Supported); Step 3.7 Flash #110 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Kimi K3 and Step 3.7 Flash share 19 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 38 results are unique to Kimi K3; 10 to Step 3.7 Flash.

Updated July 23, 2026
Shared results
19
Kimi K3 only
38
Step 3.7 Flash only
10
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick Kimi K3 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Step 3.7 Flash only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 19 shared benchmark results across 5 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Kimi K3 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 80.96 to 50.87. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Kimi K3's sharpest advantage is in agentic, where it averages 89.5 against 66.4. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 88.3% to 59.5%.

Kimi K3 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $3.00 input / $15.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.20 input / $1.15 output per 1M tokens for Step 3.7 Flash. That is roughly 13.0x on output cost alone. Kimi K3 gives you the larger context window at 1.05M, compared with 256K for Step 3.7 Flash.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for Kimi K3 and Step 3.7 Flash
CategoryKimi K3ΔStep 3.7 Flash
AgenticKimi K389.5Margin 23.1Step 3.7 Flash66.4
CodingKimi K3Not measuredMarginNo overlapStep 3.7 Flash56.3
KnowledgeKimi K361.0MarginNo overlapStep 3.7 FlashNot measured
MultimodalKimi K378.5MarginNo overlapStep 3.7 FlashNot measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Kimi K3B · Step 3.7 Flash
  1. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 88.3%B 59.5%
    Winner: Kimi K3Δ 28.8
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: Kimi K3 scored 88.3%; Step 3.7 Flash scored 59.5%. Kimi K3 wins this benchmark.
  2. BrowseComp

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 91.2%B 75.8%
    Winner: Kimi K3Δ 15.4
    BrowseComp: Kimi K3 scored 91.2%; Step 3.7 Flash scored 75.8%. Kimi K3 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricKimi K3Step 3.7 FlashComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensKimi K3$3 input / $15 outputStep 3.7 Flash$0.2 input / $1.15 outputStep 3.7 Flash has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondKimi K3Not availableStep 3.7 FlashNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenKimi K3Not availableStep 3.7 FlashNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensKimi K31.05MStep 3.7 Flash256KKimi K3 lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticKimi K3 wins
BenchmarkKimi K3Step 3.7 FlashResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 88.3%59.5%Kimi K3 leads
BrowseCompSource 91.2%75.8%Kimi K3 leads
DeepSearchQASource 95.0%92.8%Kimi K3 leads
Toolathlon-VerifiedSource 73.2%Not comparable
MCP AtlasSource 84.2%Not comparable
AutomationBenchSource 30.8%Not comparable
JobBenchSource 52.9%Not comparable
APEX-AgentsSource 37.6%Not comparable
SpreadsheetBench 2Source 34.8%Not comparable
DECK-BenchSource 73.5%Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 50.1%21.5%Kimi K3 leads
GDPval-AASource 59.0%25.9%Kimi K3 leads
GDPval-AASource 16791017Kimi K3 leads
AA BriefcaseSource 1543Not comparable
AA AutomationBenchSource 52.7%Not comparable
AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource 45.3%Not comparable
AA Harvey LABSource 94.6%Not comparable
AA Tau3 BankingSource 33.4%Not comparable
aaTerminalBench21Source 85%Not comparable
APEX-Agents-AASource 41.3%14.8%Kimi K3 leads
AA ITBenchSource 47.7%Not comparable
ToolathlonSource 49.5%Not comparable
Claw-EvalSource 67.1%Not comparable
HLE w/ toolsSource 47.2%Not comparable
Gert LabsSource 51.57%Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 98.5%Not comparable
Coding
BenchmarkKimi K3Step 3.7 FlashResult
deepSweSource 67.5%Not comparable
FrontierSWESource 81.2%Not comparable
ProgramBenchSource 77.8%Not comparable
Kimi Code Bench v2Source 72.9%Not comparable
sweMarathonSource 42%Not comparable
PostTrain BenchSource 36.6%Not comparable
MLS-Bench LiteSource 48.3%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 76.2%39.6%Kimi K3 leads
AA-SciCodeSource 58.7%40.0%Kimi K3 leads
SWE-bench ProSource 56.3%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 59.5%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkKimi K3Step 3.7 FlashResult
AA-LCRSource 74.7%63.7%Kimi K3 leads
CritPtSource 23.4%2.3%Kimi K3 leads
Knowledge
BenchmarkKimi K3Step 3.7 FlashResult
GPQASource 93.5%Not comparable
GPQA-DSource 93.5%Not comparable
HLESource 56%Not comparable
HLE w/o toolsSource 43.5%Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 57.1%30.3%Kimi K3 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 93.5%80.9%Kimi K3 leads
AA-HLESource 44.3%19.9%Kimi K3 leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 18.4%-37.5%Kimi K3 leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 46.0%25.4%Kimi K3 leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 50.9%84.4%Kimi K3 leads
Multimodal
BenchmarkKimi K3Step 3.7 FlashResult
OfficeQA ProSource 63.3%Not comparable
MMMU-ProSource 81.6%Not comparable
MMMU-Pro w/ PythonSource 83.4%Not comparable
CharXiv w/o toolsSource 84.8%Not comparable
CharXivSource 91.3%Not comparable
MathVisionSource 94.3%Not comparable
MathVision w/ PythonSource 97.8%Not comparable
BabyVision w/ PythonSource 85.7%Not comparable
ZeroBenchSource 23.0%Not comparable
ZeroBench w/ PythonSource 41.0%Not comparable
WorldVQA ForceAnswerSource 51.0%Not comparable
OmniDocBenchSource 91.1%Not comparable
PerceptionBenchSource 58.5%Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 80.5%75.3%Kimi K3 leads
Design Arena WebsiteSource 13861211Kimi K3 leads
SimpleVQASource 79.2%Not comparable
V*Source 95.3%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkKimi K3Step 3.7 FlashResult
AA-IFBenchSource 67.3%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Kimi K3 or Step 3.7 Flash?

Kimi K3 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 80.96 to 50.87. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 88.3% and 59.5%.

Which is better for agentic tasks, Kimi K3 or Step 3.7 Flash?

Kimi K3 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 89.5 versus 66.4. Inside this category, GDPval-AA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: July 23, 2026

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