Kimi K3 cost calculator
Last updated:
Turn a planned workload into a number: this tool converts token volumes, request rates and cache hit rate into a monthly Kimi K3 bill at $3/$15 per 1M tokens, and shows the same workload priced on four competing models.
- Monthly (Kimi K3)
- $654.89
- Per request
- $0.099
- Input share
- $395.01
- Cache savings
- $436.59
Moonshot has not published an official K3 cached-input price yet; cache savings use an estimated 25% of the input rate.
Same workload on other models
Prices from this site's model registry; each is verified against the linked source on /pricing.
How the math works
Monthly cost = requests × [fresh input × $3/M + cached input × discounted rate + output × $15/M] × (1 + retry overhead). Moonshot hasn't published K3's official cached-input price yet, so cache savings use a conservative estimated discount and are labeled as such — the moment the official rate lands, the registry behind this page updates and the label disappears. Full formula and rate table on the pricing page.
Reading the presets
- Coding agent — 40K input / 2.5K output per step, 70% cache: repository context dominates, so caching cuts the bill dramatically. This is K3's headline use case given the 1M context window.
- RAG chatbot — 6K input / 500 output, 30% cache: balanced load where input and output cost roughly the same share.
- Batch research — 120K input / 8K output, low cache: long-document analysis where the 1M window replaces chunking pipelines entirely.
- Agent evals — repeated harness runs at 85% cache: the scenario where cached pricing matters most.
Cost-control levers, ranked
From our modeling across these presets: (1) cache hit rate — going from 0% to 70% on the coding-agent preset cuts the bill by more than a third; (2) output length discipline — at $15/M, trimming average responses by 500 tokens saves more than most provider switches; (3) model right-sizing — K2.6 at $0.95/$4 remains the better deal for tasks that don't need K3's depth. Count your actual prompts first with the token calculator so the inputs here reflect reality, not guesses.
Frequently asked questions
How do I estimate my monthly Kimi K3 API cost?
Multiply average input tokens by $3/M and output tokens by $15/M, times your request volume, then subtract cache savings. This calculator does that math live: pick a preset close to your workload, adjust the numbers, and read the monthly total.
What cache hit rate should I assume?
Coding agents that resend repository context typically see 60–80% cache hits; RAG chatbots with a shared system prompt see 20–40%; one-shot batch jobs see close to 0%. Start with the preset defaults and calibrate against your first real invoice.
Is Kimi K3 cheaper than GPT-5.5 or Claude for the same workload?
It depends on the input/output mix. K3's $3 input matches Claude Sonnet and is above GPT-5.5's listed input rate, but its $15 output undercuts GPT-5.5's $20. Output-heavy workloads therefore tend to favor K3; the comparison bars under the calculator show your specific case.