Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Kimi K3
Claude Haiku 4.5 and Kimi K3 are both current production-tier models. Claude Haiku 4.5 is meaningfully cheaper at $1 / $5 per 1M. Kimi K3 has a 1.0M context window — about 5× the 200k of Claude Haiku 4.5. Kimi K3 leads on coding, reasoning, general knowledge.
Specs side by side
| Metric | Anthropic Claude Haiku 4.5 | Z.ai Kimi K3 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price (per 1M) | $1 | $3 |
| Output price (per 1M) | $5 | $15 |
| Context window | 200k tokens | 1.0M tokens |
| Speed tier | fast | balanced |
| Open weights | No | No |
| EU region | Yes | No |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Prompt caching | Yes | Yes |
| Vision input | Yes | Yes |
| Extended thinking | No | Yes |
When to choose each
Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 if…
- Cost is a priority ($1 / $5 per 1M vs $3 / $15 per 1M)
- EU data residency is required
- HIPAA eligibility is required
Choose Kimi K3 if…
- You need 1.0M context (5× more than Claude Haiku 4.5)
- Coding is central to your workload
- Reasoning is central to your workload
Benchmark delta
Claude Haiku 4.5 leads on
Claude Haiku 4.5 has no meaningful benchmark lead in this pair.
Kimi K3 leads on
- Coding
- Reasoning
- General knowledge
- Long-context retrieval
- Multilingual
- Vision
FAQ — Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Kimi K3
Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Kimi K3 — which is better?
Claude Haiku 4.5 and Kimi K3 are both current production-tier models. Claude Haiku 4.5 is meaningfully cheaper at $1 / $5 per 1M. Kimi K3 has a 1.0M context window — about 5× the 200k of Claude Haiku 4.5. Kimi K3 leads on coding, reasoning, general knowledge. The right pick depends on your use case — see "When to choose each" above for a data-driven decision.
How does Claude Haiku 4.5 pricing compare to Kimi K3?
Claude Haiku 4.5 costs $1 / $5 per 1M vs Kimi K3 at $3 / $15 per 1M. Claude Haiku 4.5 is cheaper on output tokens by roughly 200%. Both support prompt caching, which reduces effective cost by 80-90% on repeat system prompts.
Does Claude Haiku 4.5 or Kimi K3 have the bigger context window?
Kimi K3 has a 1.0M-token context window — 5× the 200k context of Claude Haiku 4.5. Enough for entire codebases, books, or multi-document RAG.
Is there a free tier for Claude Haiku 4.5 or Kimi K3?
Claude Haiku 4.5: no — No free API tier; new accounts get starter credits. Kimi K3: no — No free API tier; kimi.com web chat is free with limits.
Which is better for coding — Claude Haiku 4.5 or Kimi K3?
Kimi K3 leads on coding benchmarks (Claude Haiku 4.5: 82/100, Kimi K3: 95/100). For production coding agents also weigh tool-use performance — Claude Haiku 4.5 scores 88, Kimi K3 scores 90.