Head to head · Open-weight models you run yourself · October 2026 research run
gpt-oss-120b vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
gpt-oss-120b scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Kimi K3.1 Pro's 48.6 (D), and leads in 3 of 4 scored categories. Kimi K3.1 Pro leads on documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.
Best open-weight models you download and run yourself for AI agents · All 4969 open weights comparisons
Which one, for what
gpt-oss-120b BB
Best for Agents on one 80 GB GPU or a 128 GB unified machine that want an Apache 2.0 reasoning model with wide runtime support
Ahead on
- Reach, 75 against 40
- Risk, 95 against 50
- Agent interface, 90 against 65
Also in its favour
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
Watch for
Needs about 78 GB, too big for 64 GB machines, and OpenAI ships only one precision
Best for Operators with a multi-accelerator node who want Moonshot's newest open-weight model for coding and long agent sessions, and everyone else through an API
Ahead on
- Documentation and upkeep, 51 against 45
Watch for
1,561 GB of files, so it needs a node of eight large accelerators at least
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Risk gpt-oss-120b +45
gpt-oss-120b 95
File safety earns 25, safetensors only, with metal/model.bin a raw format and not pickle, and nothing from the repository runs on load. Provenance earns 15, files in OpenAI's linked organisation with a hash for every file. Safety evaluation earns 20, published results with SecureBio as an outside evaluator. Agent guidance earns 15 for the trained instruction hierarchy with prompt-injection results. Licence risk keeps all 15. The security programme earns 5 for OpenAI's Bugcrowd programme and disclosure policy, and the advisories half scores 0 because GitHub couldn't be checked, not because it was found missing.
Kimi K3.1 Pro 50
File safety 15, safetensors only, less 10 for remote code and prompts built by the repository's script. Provenance 15, Moonshot's own organisation with a hash on every file. Safety evaluation 10, Moonshot's own cyber benchmark results and nobody else's yet. Agent guidance 0, none on the card. Licence risk 10, the revenue threshold. Security programme 0, no way to report a flaw found. 15 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 + 0 = 50.
Reach gpt-oss-120b +35
gpt-oss-120b 75
Memory earns 10, because the smallest 4-bit build, Ollama's 65 GB gpt-oss:120b, needs about 78 GB with the fifth added, which fits the reference machine but not 64 GB. Runtimes earn the full 25 from Transformers, vLLM, SGLang, llama.cpp and Ollama. Builds earn 10, since OpenAI ships one precision, MXFP4. Terms earn 15 for Apache 2.0 with a policy that asks only for lawful use. Download earns 10, with no gate or account. Hosted earns 5, since 11 inference providers serve it on Hugging Face even though OpenAI's own API doesn't.
Kimi K3.1 Pro 40
Memory 0, the only build is Moonshot's 1,561 GB MXFP4 release, far above 256 GB. Runtimes 5, llama.cpp b12242 alone has the model code in a release, since vLLM's recipe needs 0.34.0 and SGLang's cookbook a branch. Builds 10, one precision. Terms 10, free commercial use below a model-as-a-service revenue threshold. Download 10, not gated. Hosted 5, Moonshot's API and Together serve it. 0 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 40.
Agent interface gpt-oss-120b +25
gpt-oss-120b 90
The chat template earns 20, a Jinja file in the repository. The tool-calling format earns 25, since OpenAI documents declarations and returned calls in harmony and tells vLLM users to parse with openai-harmony. Trained tool calling earns 10, because each call stops generation, so calls come one at a time. Structured output earns 15 for the documented Response Formats section with a JSON Schema. Reasoning control earns 10, three effort levels per request with the reasoning on the analysis channel. Context earns 10 for 131,072 trained tokens.
Kimi K3.1 Pro 65
Chat template 10, the format is only code to run. Tool-calling format 10, the parser is named in the runtimes' recipes and the card doesn't say how tools are declared. Trained tool calling 20, several calls a turn on Kimi K3's tools channel. Structured output 5, named among linked guides without the how. Reasoning control 10, reasoning_effort per request. Context 10, 1M tokens. 10 + 10 + 20 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 65.
Documentation and upkeep Kimi K3.1 Pro +6
gpt-oss-120b 45
The model card earns 20, with all seven items in OpenAI's arXiv card. Training data earns 10, a general description with a cut-off. Last change earns 5, since the last change to code that runs the model was the Metal reference on 1 November 2025, a year before this check, and the files date from August 2025. It drops to 0 after 1 November 2026 unless the files, template or reference code change. Responsiveness earns 0, with no OpenAI reply in the 40 latest discussions. Version policy earns 5 as a first release. File health earns 5, the files agree but template and tokenizer reports wait without a reply.
Kimi K3.1 Pro 51
Model card 11, no limitations, languages or cut-off. Training data 5, one general sentence. Last change 20, a commit on 5 November 2026. Responsiveness 0, none of the 8 newest discussions has a reply from Moonshot. Version policy 5, Kimi K3 keeps its repository and no dated note was found. File health 10, the files agree. 11 + 5 + 20 + 0 + 5 + 10 = 51.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | gpt-oss-120b | Kimi K3.1 Pro | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | 35%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Reach | 25%25 | 75 | 40 | gpt-oss-120b +35 |
| Risk | 20%20 | 95 | 50 | gpt-oss-120b +45 |
| Agent interface | 10%10 | 90 | 65 | gpt-oss-120b +25 |
| Documentation and upkeep | 10%10 | 45 | 51 | Kimi K3.1 Pro +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | BB 70.2/100 | D 48.6/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | gpt-oss-120b | Kimi K3.1 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Open-weight model | Open-weight model |
| Vendor | OpenAI | Moonshot AI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Kimi K3.1 Pro License (modified MIT) |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2025-08-26 | 2026-11-05 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | none |
Verdicts
gpt-oss-120b
A reasoning and agent cousin that runs in most runtimes under Apache 2.0 with published safety work. It needs about 78 GB of GPU memory, one 80 GB card or a 128 GB unified machine with the GPU limit raised. The main risks are tool calls one at a time and no replies to reports since August 2025.
Kimi K3.1 Pro
Moonshot's newest flagship, eight days old when read, for operators with a rack. Only llama.cpp has its model code in a release, with vLLM and SGLang support still on a release candidate and a branch. The licence is permissive below a revenue threshold, and Moonshot hasn't answered a discussion on the repository yet.
Before you call either
gpt-oss-120b
- Start it with
ollama run gpt-oss:120bon the reference machine, the build that fits - On the Strix Halo machine raise the GPU memory limit first with
amd-ttm --set 100, since the default of about 62.8 GiB is below the 78 GB it needs - With vLLM use
vllm serve openai/gpt-oss-120b --tool-call-parser openai --enable-auto-tool-choiceper vLLM's recipe, or parse raw output with openai-harmony - Always use the harmony format through the chat template or openai-harmony, the card says it won't work correctly otherwise
- Set
Reasoning: lowin the system message for short tasks, medium is the default - Pass the reasoning back after a tool call until the final answer, and keep the analysis channel away from end users
- Expect one tool call per turn and loop, don't wait for parallel calls
Kimi K3.1 Pro
- Use Moonshot's API or Together unless you have a node of eight B300-class accelerators
- With vLLM use 0.34.0 or later and the recipe's flags,
--tool-call-parser kimi_k3 --reasoning-parser kimi_k3 - Pass the whole assistant message back in later turns, reasoning_content and tool_calls included, as the card requires
- Set
reasoning_effortto low, high or max per request. Max is the default and thinking can't be turned off - Kimi K3's model code doesn't load it, because the attention layers changed
- Validate JSON output yourself, since the card doesn't document structured output for the weights
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, gpt-oss-120b or Kimi K3.1 Pro?
gpt-oss-120b scores 70.2 (BB) on agent readiness against Kimi K3.1 Pro's 48.6 (D), and leads in 3 of 4 scored categories. Kimi K3.1 Pro leads on documentation and upkeep.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/gpt-oss-120b-vs-kimi-k3-1-pro.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/gpt-oss-120b.json·/api/v1/tools/kimi-k3-1-pro.json - From a terminal
anchor compare gpt-oss-120b kimi-k3-1-pro(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "gpt-oss-120b", "b": "kimi-k3-1-pro"}at/mcp, no key