Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Scout or Kimi K3?

Llama 4 Scout is cheaper at the input + output rate combined: $0.800 versus $1.50 per million tokens.

Which has higher quality, Llama 4 Scout or Kimi K3?

Kimi K3 has the higher AA Intelligence Index score: 80 versus 75.

Can I switch between Llama 4 Scout and Kimi K3 via one API?

Both Llama 4 Scout and Kimi K3 are accessible through OpenRouter's unified gateway, which lets you switch models with one API key. Phase 2 of AIpricly will add scenario-routed automatic primary + fallback chains.

Llama 4 Scout vs Kimi K3

Side-by-side pricing, capabilities, real-world cost across common scenarios, and our editorial pick.

Add a modelUp to 4 models can be compared

all prices in USD per 1M tokens

OVERALL WINNER

Llama 4 Scout

Meta · released 2026-01-25

Quality (AA Index)75

Input price$0.20

Output price$0.60

Context256K

Throughput380 tok/s

P50 latency0.2s

View full pricing

Kimi K3

Moonshot · released 2026-03-15

Quality (AA Index)80

Input price$0.30

Output price$1.20

Context200K

Throughput150 tok/s

P50 latency0.8s

View full pricing

Try Llama 4 Scout on OpenRouter Try Kimi K3 on OpenRouter

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Head-to-head specs

Green column = winner per metric

Metric	Llama 4 Scout	Kimi K3	Verdict
Input price /1M tokens	$0.20	$0.30	Llama 4 Scout −33%
Output price /1M tokens	$0.60	$1.20	Llama 4 Scout −50%
Context window max input length	256K	200K	Llama 4 Scout +1.3×
AA Quality AA Intelligence Index (0–100)	75	80	Kimi K3 +5pt
Arena Elo LMArena human-pref Elo (800–2000)	—	—	Tied
Throughput tokens per second	380	150	Llama 4 Scout +153%
P50 latency first token	0.2s	0.8s	Llama 4 Scout −75%
Vision multimodal	—	—	Tied
Function calling tool use			Tied
Reasoning mode chain-of-thought	—	—	Tied

Monthly cost across common scenarios

Default usage assumptions

Scenario	Llama 4 Scout	Kimi K3
customer support 1000K req · 600/180 tok	$228	$396
chat with docs 300K req · 4000/300 tok	$294	$468
code generation 500K req · 2000/500 tok	$350	$600
voice assistant 600K req · 800/200 tok	$168	$288

Our pick

For most workloads, choose Llama 4 Scout.

33% cheaper input price, which compounds at scale
1.3× the context window — better for long documents and agents
153% faster throughput — matters for streaming UX and voice agents

Choose Kimi K3 instead if: Tradeoffs for this pair have not yet been documented. The quality difference may be small enough that workload fit, integration cost, and team familiarity decide the choice.

Read our deep analysis

The Cheapest LLM API for Production in 2026

Why pick? Use both with smart routing

Phase 2 · gateway with fallback chain

Set Llama 4 Scout as primary, Kimi K3 as fallback. One key, one bill, automatic failover when Llama 4 Scout errors.

PHASE 2 PREVIEW · gateway not live yetThis endpoint does not exist yet. The gateway is in Phase 2 — what you see below is a design preview of the planned interface, not a live API. We will email subscribers when it launches.

Preview the planned API call

$ curl https://api.aipricly.com/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $AIPC_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "routing": {
      "primary": "meta/llama-4-scout",
      "fallback": ["moonshot/kimi-k3"]
    },
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "..."}]
  }'