Choose AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini if…
- cost matters at scale — it is 81% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($80.50 vs $399 a month for 50,000 support chats)
- you generate long outputs in one go — up to 33K tokens (about 24,600 words) per response
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini vs MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch)
Neither wins outright: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini is the pick when cost matters at scale, MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) when you need to fit long inputs in one request.
Key numbers
| Spec | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Aion Labs | Moonshotai |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $0.70 | $2.28 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $1.40 | $11.40 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $0.87 | $4.56 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 42% | 12% |
| Context window | 262K tokens (~393 pages) | 1.0M tokens (~1,573 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 48% | 81% |
| Max output per response | 33K tokens (~24,600 words) | 16K tokens (~12,300 words) |
| Input types | text | text, image, video |
| Output types | text | text |
| Free variant | No | No |
| Listed since | 2026-09-23 | 2026-07-16 |
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What it costs for real workloads
Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.
| Workload (per month) | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $80.50 | $399 | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini saves $318 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $98.00 | $388 | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini saves $290 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens) | $101 | $410 | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini saves $310 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $64.40 | $251 | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini saves $186 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $36.40 | $125 | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini saves $89.00 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) | What it lets you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool / function calling | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | call your APIs and run agent loops |
| Structured output (JSON schema) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | return JSON that validates against your schema |
| Reasoning / thinking mode | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems |
| Image input | — | ✓ Yes | read screenshots, charts and scanned pages |
| Audio input | — | — | take speech or audio directly |
| File / PDF input | — | — | accept documents without your own parsing step |
| Image output | — | — | generate images, not just text |
| Built-in web search | — | — | answer from live web results |
| Seed (reproducible sampling) | — | ✓ Yes | repeat a generation for tests and evals |
| Log-probabilities | — | — | read token confidence for classification and scoring |
From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.
Price history
- AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-09-24.
- MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch): input price cut 24% ($3.00 → $2.28/1M), output price cut 24% ($15.00 → $11.40/1M) on 2026-09-23.
| Date | Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-23 | MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) | $2.28 | $11.40 |
Which should you choose?
Choose MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) if…
- you need to fit long inputs in one request — 1.0M tokens is roughly 1,573 pages, against 393
- you need image input — to read screenshots, charts and scanned pages; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini does not advertise it
- you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini does not advertise it
Frequently asked questions
Is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini better than MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch)?
Neither wins outright: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini is the pick when cost matters at scale, MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) when you need to fit long inputs in one request. In short: AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini when cost matters at scale, you generate long outputs in one go; MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) when you need to fit long inputs in one request, you need image input, you need seed (reproducible sampling).
Which is cheaper, AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch)?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini is cheaper: $0.87 vs $4.56 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 81% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $80.50 against $399.
How much do AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) cost per million tokens?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini costs $0.70 per 1M input tokens and $1.40 per 1M output tokens; MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) costs $2.28 input and $11.40 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch)?
MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch): 1.0M tokens, about 1,573 pages, against 262K (about 393 pages) for AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini.
Do AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: yes, MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch): yes. JSON-schema structured output — AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: yes, MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch): yes.
Can AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) read images?
Only MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) accepts image input; AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini is text-only for input.
Is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) free to use?
No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.
What is the maximum output length of AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch)?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini can write up to 33K tokens (about 24,600 words) per response; MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) up to 16K (about 12,300 words).
When were AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini and MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) released?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini was listed on 2026-09-23; MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) on 2026-07-16.
Has the price of AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini or MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) changed?
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-09-24. MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch): input price cut 24% ($3.00 → $2.28/1M), output price cut 24% ($15.00 → $11.40/1M) on 2026-09-23.
About the two models
AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini
Aion 3.5 Mini is a multi-model roleplaying and storytelling system from AionLabs, built on the GLM family of models. It is the smaller, lower-cost sibling of Aion 3.5 and uses...
Full AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini specs →MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch)
Kimi K3 is a 2.8T parameter open-weight multimodal reasoning model from Moonshot AI. It is suited for complex coding, knowledge work, and long-horizon agentic workflows, and is particularly strong at...
Full MoonshotAI: Kimi K3 (batch) specs →