Kimi review: our take
Kimi is the pick when you want a frontier-scale model you can also download. Moonshot AI released Kimi K3 in July with open weights: 2.8 trillion parameters, 104 billion active per token, a 1M-token context, and images and video as input. The app wraps it in agents for research, slides, documents and spreadsheets, and every paid plan from $19 a month includes Kimi Code, a coding agent for the terminal, desktop and editors. Through the API, K3 costs $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output, and the older K2.7 Code model is much cheaper at $0.95 and $4.
Two things to weigh. Moonshot says on its own K3 page that the model still trails the strongest closed models, and the international app's privacy policy says your prompts and files may be stored outside your country and used for training unless you opt out by email. The K3 license is MIT-style but asks very large products to show "Kimi K3" and large hosting resellers to sign an agreement. If price per token matters most, compare DeepSeek. For coding, see Claude Code and Codex, and to try several models behind one key, OpenRouter.
By the Prompt Hackers team · facts checked 13 Oct 2026
What Kimi does
Kimi chats and runs agent tasks: Deep Research, Slides, Docs, Sheets, Build for apps and websites, Agent Swarm and Goal Mode. Kimi Code is a coding agent with a command-line tool, desktop app and editor extensions. Everything runs on Kimi K3, an open-weight model with a 1M-token context that also takes images and video, and the same models are sold through an OpenAI-compatible API.
Who Kimi is for
Best for
- developers who want an open-weight model they can also run or host themselves
- people who want research, slides and documents from one agent
- coders who want a terminal agent included in a $19 plan
Not for
- anyone who needs data kept in their country: the international app says data may be stored abroad and used for training unless you opt out
- users who want the strongest model available: Moonshot itself says K3 trails the top closed models
Kimi features
- F1Kimi K3 open-weight model
- F21M-token context
- F3Deep Research
- F4Slides, Docs and Sheets
- F5Agent Swarm and Goal Mode
- F6Kimi Code CLI, desktop app and IDE extensions
- F7Kimi Work desktop app
- F8OpenAI-compatible API
Kimi pricing and plans
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly, per month | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | — | Free usage credits; Moonshot publishes no amounts |
| Plus | $19 | $15 | K3, Kimi Code, research, office tasks, Agent Swarm; one monthly credit pool, no rollover |
| Pro | $39 | $31 | 2x Plus agent credits; Goal Mode, dedicated Kimi Claw, K3 with 1M context |
| Max | $99 | $79 | 5x Plus agent credits; 4 agent tasks at once |
| Ultra | $199 | $159 | 10x Plus agent credits; the largest credit pool |
| kimi-k3 API (per 1M tokens) | — | — | input $3.00 (cache hit $0.30) / output $15.00; 1M context; cache writes $3 (5 min) or $6 (1 h) |
| kimi-k2.7-code API (per 1M tokens) | — | — | input $0.95 (cache hit $0.19) / output $4.00; 256K context; highspeed version at double the price |
Free plan: yes. Prices as listed by the vendor in USD, before tax; they change, so check the pricing page before you buy.
Kimi FAQ
- How much does Kimi cost?
- Paid plans start at $19/mo, with a discount for yearly billing. Prices checked on 13 Oct 2026.
- Does Kimi have a free plan?
- Yes, Kimi has a free plan.
- What are the alternatives to Kimi?
- Tools that cover the same jobs include DeepSeek, ChatGPT, Claude, Mistral Vibe.
Sources
- kimi.ai/help/membership/membership-pricing
- platform.kimi.ai/docs/pricing/chat
- kimi.ai/blog/kimi-k3
- kimi.ai/ai-models/kimi-k3
- huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K3
- huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K3/blob/main/LICENSE
- kimi.com/code/docs/en/kimi-code/whats-new.html
- kimi.ai/user/agreement/userPrivacy
- kimi.ai/resources/free-ai-agents
- apps.apple.com/us/app/kimi-kimi-k3-is-live/id6474233312