Intelligence
9 scoreKimi · Flagships Analysis
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct
Intelligence, Performance & Price Analysis
Canonical slug: kimi-linear-48b-a3b-instruct · Canonical model registry at build time
Input Price
$0.00Output Price
$0.00Executive Assessment
Routing Verdict & Tradeoffs
Ethen Routing Verdict
Budget-friendly / task-specific model
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct scores 9 (estimated) on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it above average among other open weight non-reasoning models of similar size (median: 7).
Best for high-volume, simple, or domain-specific tasks where cost or speed matters more than deep reasoning.
Task Fit Assessment
| Workload | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Complex reasoning & agentic workflows | suboptimal | Intelligence score 9 is better suited for straightforward tasks than multi-step reasoning. |
| Cost-sensitive pipelines | optimal | Output pricing at $0.00 is very competitive for high-volume workloads. |
Cost Pressure Analysis
Low
Pricing is competitive — input $0.00, output $0.00. Suitable for sustained production use.
Technical Specifications
Architecture and Limits
| Specification | Value | Validation Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Model type | Open weights | inferred |
| Reasoning | No | faq |
| Input modalities | Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct supports text input. | faq |
| Output modalities | Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct supports text output. | faq |
| Context window | Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct has a context window of 1.0M tokens. This determines how much text and conversation history the model can process in a single request. | faq |
| Open weights / source | Yes, Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is open weights. The model weights are publicly available and can be downloaded for self-hosting. | faq |
| Parameters | Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct has 49.1 billion parameters (3 billion active). | faq |
| Active parameters | Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is a Mixture of Experts (MoE) model with 49.1 billion total parameters, but only 3 billion active parameters are used during inference. | faq |
| License | Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is released under the MIT license. This license allows commercial use. | faq |
Evidence charts
Profile visualizations
Charts are the same canonical evidence cards previously published for this slug, contained inside the D18D page grammar.
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index by Open Weights / Proprietary
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.1 incorporates 9 evaluations: GDPval-AA v2, 𝜏³-Banking, Terminal-Bench v2.1, SciCode, Humanity's Last Exam, GPQA Diamond, CritPt, AA-Omniscience, AA-LCR · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Higher values indicate stronger overall capability. Bars show how models compare on composite intelligence metrics.
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index v4.1 incorporates 9 evaluations: GDPval-AA v2, 𝜏³-Banking, Terminal-Bench v2.1, SciCode, Humanity's Last Exam, GPQA Diamond, CritPt, AA-Omniscience, AA-LCR · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Higher values indicate stronger overall capability. Bars show how models compare on composite intelligence metrics.
Artificial Analysis Openness Index: Score
Openness Index assesses model openness on a 0 to 100 normalized scale (higher is more open) · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Bars intentionally show many models at once so the page feels like a benchmark report rather than a dashboard.
Intelligence
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · Higher is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Higher values indicate stronger overall capability. Bars show how models compare on composite intelligence metrics.
Speed
Output tokens per second · Higher is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Speed should be read together with latency and cost; fast output does not always mean better user-perceived performance.
Context Window
Context window: tokens limit · Higher is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Larger context windows enable complex multi-turn tasks but may increase latency and cost for long inputs.
Cost per Intelligence Index Task
Weighted average cost (USD) per Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index task, segmented by token type. Lower is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Higher values indicate stronger overall capability. Bars show how models compare on composite intelligence metrics.
Ethen Gateway should route away from this model when the task is simple, repetitive, or likely to generate many output tokens.
Cost per Task
Weighted average cost (USD) per Intelligence Index task · Lower is better · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Ethen Gateway should route away from this model when the task is simple, repetitive, or likely to generate many output tokens.
Cost to Run Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Cost (USD) to run all evaluations in the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Higher values indicate stronger overall capability. Bars show how models compare on composite intelligence metrics.
Ethen Gateway should route away from this model when the task is simple, repetitive, or likely to generate many output tokens.
Pricing: Cache Hit, Input, and Output
Price (USD per M Tokens) · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Bars intentionally show many models at once so the page feels like a benchmark report rather than a dashboard.
Model Size: Total and Active Parameters
Comparison between total model parameters and parameters active during inference · Evaluation results measured independently by Artificial Analysis
Retrieved 2026-07-08
Chart source and provenance are listed in Methodology & sources below.
- Source:
- Published benchmark dataset
- Retrieval date:
- 2026-07-08
- Methodology:
- Independent test run by Artificial Analysis on dedicated hardware.
Larger models generally perform better but cost more to serve. Active parameter count matters for inference efficiency.
Methodology
Methodology & Provenance
This page is rendered from the normalized profile and page JSON for Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct.
Benchmark values are preserved as normalized; only layout, disclosure ordering, and typography are adjusted for readability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Model FAQs & Technical Disclosures
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct was released on October 30, 2025.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct was created by Kimi.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct scores 9 (estimated) on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it above average among other open weight non-reasoning models of similar size (median: 7).
No, Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is not a reasoning model. It provides direct responses without extended chain-of-thought reasoning.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct supports text input.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct supports text output.
No, Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct does not support image input. It can only process text.
No, Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is not multimodal. It only supports text input.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct has a context window of 1.0M tokens. This determines how much text and conversation history the model can process in a single request.
Yes, Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is open weights. The model weights are publicly available and can be downloaded for self-hosting.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct has 49.1 billion parameters (3 billion active).
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is a Mixture of Experts (MoE) model with 49.1 billion total parameters, but only 3 billion active parameters are used during inference.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is released under the MIT license. This license allows commercial use.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct achieves a score of 9 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. This composite benchmark evaluates models across reasoning, knowledge, mathematics, and coding.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is an open weights model that can be self-hosted.
Kimi Linear 48B A3B Instruct is an open weights model that can be downloaded and self-hosted.