OpenCode Go
Software
Verified Jul 27
Kimi K3: $5 First Month
$5 first month for Kimi K3 plus 15 other coding models, then $10/month. The plan is capped; subscribing through the referral link adds a stated $5 credit.
How to Use Kimi K3
There are four realistic ways to reach Kimi K3, they cost wildly different amounts, and the right one depends entirely on how much you actually use it. This page compares them with current prices so you can pick before you pay.
I may receive a reward if you use some of the links below - not all of them. Prices checked Jul 27, 2026. How offers are checked.
The short answer
Light or occasional use: a metered API. You pay per token, there is no monthly fee, and a few questions a week may cost under a dollar.
Steady daily coding: a flat subscription. Once you are consistently past roughly 667,000 output tokens a month, a $10 plan costs less than metered pricing, and a capped plan allowing up to $60 of monthly usage is worth several times its fee at the ceiling.
Reading and research in a browser: an extension. It will not help you in an editor and supplies no API key, so do not buy one expecting IDE integration.
Kimi's own apps and agent features: Moonshot AI's official membership. It costs more and this site earns nothing from it, but no reseller substitutes for the first-party product.
Kimi K3 access routes compared
| Route | Price | Billing | Works in an IDE? | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly subscription (OpenCode Go) | $5 first month, then $10/month | Flat fee, capped usage | Yes, via endpoint or bundled agent | Steady daily coding where a predictable bill matters |
| Pay-per-token API (Novita) | $3 in / $0.30 cached / $15 out per 1M tokens | Metered, no monthly fee | Yes, via OpenAI/Anthropic-compatible endpoint | Light or irregular use, and measuring your real volume first |
| Official Kimi membership | $19 to $199/month | Flat fee, tiered credits | Not the primary use case | First-party Kimi apps and agent features |
| Browser extension (Sider) | Free tier with limits; paid plans available | Subscription or credits | No, browser only | Reading, summarising and research beside a webpage |
Moonshot AI's own membership is included for comparison and is not a referral listing. This site earns nothing if you choose it.
Working out which one is cheaper for you
Kimi K3 costs roughly the same at every metered provider: about $3 per million input tokens, $0.30 per million cached input tokens and $15 per million output tokens. That consistency makes the comparison straightforward, because the only variable is your own volume.
Output tokens dominate the bill on agent work, since the model writes code and explains its reasoning at length. A $10 monthly subscription therefore breaks even at approximately 667,000 output tokens, or about 3.3 million input tokens, or a mixture. Below that line, metered pricing wins. Above it, the subscription does — up to whatever usage ceiling the plan imposes.
Break-even
monthly_fee / (output_millions x $15 + input_millions x $3)The practical route is to open a metered account first, work normally for a week, then read the usage dashboard. A week of real data settles the question better than any estimate, and it costs a few dollars at most.
Mistakes worth avoiding
- Buying a browser extension expecting to use the model inside an editor. Extensions do not supply an API key and cannot configure a provider in Zed or VS Code.
- Assuming a plan named "unlimited" is unlimited. Advanced models generally still consume a credit allowance, and caps are often stated only in the documentation.
- Sending an entire repository on every prompt because the context window allows it. A large context window is a ceiling, not an instruction, and on metered pricing it is expensive.
- Leaving automatic top-ups enabled on a metered account before you know what a normal day costs.
- Comparing a subscription price against a per-token price without stating a usage volume. The comparison is meaningless without one.
- Assuming a reseller plan is the official Kimi product. Resellers supply the model; they do not supply Moonshot's own apps or agent features.
The listings
I may receive a reward if you use a link below.
Novita AI
Software
Verified Jul 27
Try Kimi K3 Without a Subscription
Bring Kimi K3 into VS Code, Claude Code, Zed, JetBrains, OpenCode or Neovim. Start small with no monthly IDE plan or long-term commitment.
Sider AI
Software
Verified Jul 27
Kimi AI in Your Browser
Use Kimi and other AI models beside webpages, PDFs, links, images and files in Sider's browser assistant. Plans and model limits vary.
Kimi K3 FAQ
What is the cheapest way to use Kimi K3?
For light or occasional use, a metered API is cheapest because you pay only for tokens consumed and there is no monthly fee. For steady daily coding, a flat subscription is cheaper: at roughly $3 per million input tokens and $15 per million output tokens, a $10 monthly plan breaks even at about 667,000 output tokens a month. The honest way to decide is to run a metered account for a week and read your actual usage.
How much does Kimi K3 cost?
Through a metered API, about $3 per million input tokens, $0.30 per million cached input tokens and $15 per million output tokens — the same across most providers. Through a reseller subscription, from $10 per month. Through Moonshot AI's own membership, $19 to $199 per month on monthly billing. All figures were checked on July 27, 2026.
Is there a free way to use Kimi K3?
There is a free tier on Kimi's own service and limited free use in some browser extensions, both with meaningful caps. There is no free route that gives sustained API access for coding work. Anything advertising unlimited free Kimi K3 API access is worth treating with suspicion.
Can I use Kimi K3 in Cursor, Zed or VS Code?
Yes, through any provider that supplies an OpenAI-compatible or Anthropic-compatible endpoint plus a model ID. Zed, Cline, Roo Code, Continue and Claude Code all accept a custom provider. Support varies by client for agent tools, file editing and terminal access, and autocomplete generally uses a separate smaller model. The setup steps for each route are on its own page.
Is a Kimi K3 subscription unlimited?
No reseller plan tracked here is unlimited, and plans named otherwise still meter advanced models against a credit allowance. The OpenCode Go plan, for example, was capped at $12 of usage per 5-hour window, $30 per week and $60 per month when checked. Read the cap before assuming a flat fee covers unbounded use.
Is Kimi K3 better than Claude or GPT for coding?
Referral Quest does not publish model quality rankings, because a useful answer requires benchmarking on your own codebase rather than repeating someone else's. What can be said factually is that Moonshot describes K3 as its flagship for long-horizon coding, that it offers a context window of up to roughly 1M tokens, and that its per-token price sits below several frontier alternatives. Whether it suits your work is a question for a trial, not a table.
Which route does Referral Quest earn from?
The OpenCode Go, Novita and Sider listings. Moonshot AI's own membership is listed here for comparison and earns this site nothing — it is included because leaving out the first-party option would make this page less useful and less honest.
Keep reading
Full setup guides live on each route's page: the monthly subscription route, the pay-per-token API route, and the browser extension. See also every software and AI offer tracked here, or how these prices are checked.