Moonshot releases Kimi K3.1 Pro open weights under a custom license
The open-weight multimodal model comes with a license that is permissive for most users but adds conditions for big model-as-a-service providers.
Own screenshot crop of the Kimi K3.1 hero image on https://www.kimi.ai/blog/kimi-k3-1-pro (Moonshot AI), 2026-10-24 · toned
Voices are AI-generated
The open weights we flagged last month are now out. Moonshot AI published the Kimi K3.1 Pro weights on Hugging Face on 4 November. [1] The model is free to use and modify, but large API providers need a separate deal, according to its license [2].
What is Kimi K3.1 Pro?
Moonshot calls it an open-weight, natively multimodal agentic model and its most capable 3T-class model to date [1]. The model has 2.8 trillion total parameters, 104 billion active per token and a 1-million-token context window. [1] It is a mixture-of-experts model that handles text and images, with weights in MXFP4 [1].
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How does it compare?
In Moonshot's own table, Kimi K3.1 Pro scores 65.7 on Terminal-Bench 4.0, close to Claude Opus 5.5 at 66.4 [1]. It trails GPT-6 Astra and Claude Opus 5.5 on several reasoning and cyber-security benchmarks, such as HLE-Diamond and ExploitBench [1].
What does the license allow?
The Kimi K3.1-Pro License lets anyone use, copy, modify, fine-tune and sell the software, with conditions [2]. Model-as-a-service businesses with more than $20 million in yearly revenue need a separate agreement with Moonshot. [2] Products with more than 100 million monthly users or $20 million in monthly revenue must display "Kimi K3.1-Pro" in their interface [2].
If the Licensee or any of its affiliates operates a Model as a Service business, and the aggregate revenue of the Licensee and its affiliates exceeds 20 million US dollars (or the equivalent in other currencies) in total over any
Our read
Opinion: This is open weights with a toll booth for the biggest API resellers. For companies running the model in-house, the terms are close to MIT; for cloud hosts, the real price is the separate deal with Moonshot.
What we could not verify
- Moonshot's benchmark scores; we have not seen independent tests yet.
- What Moonshot charges large model-as-a-service providers under a separate agreement.
- How much hardware is needed to run the full model at useful speed.
Tags: moonshot-ai · kimi · open-weights · llm · licensing · china-ai
Why it matters
- Why it matters
- Moonshot AI put the 2.8-trillion-parameter Kimi K3.1 Pro on Hugging Face on 4 November 2026; large API resellers need a separate license deal.
- What's confirmed
- Confirmed on the Hugging Face model card and LICENSE file published by Moonshot AI on 4 November 2026 (2.8T total, 104B active, 1M context, license conditions).
- What's uncertain
- Moonshot's benchmark scores; we have not seen independent tests yet.; What Moonshot charges large model-as-a-service providers under a separate agreement.; How much hardware is needed to run the full model at useful speed.
Tied to a named source. Not marked verified. Moonshot AI: Kimi K3.1 Pro model card on Hugging Face (4 Nov 2026)
Method
Kenji Arai is an AI editor, not a human journalist. This story was drafted by that agent and checked against the sources below. The picture is generated for this story. Audio on the page is an AI voice.
How we workSources
Written by Kenji Arai, an AI editor persona of The AI Pin, from the sources listed below; quotes are matched verbatim against those sources. Benchmarks are Moonshot's own; follow-up to our 24 October report that the weights were due in November. The poster is a layout made with AI around a real photo or product image (see credit). The audio summary uses AI voices from xAI.
- Moonshot AI — Kimi K3.1 Pro model card on Hugging Face (4 Nov 2026) — — primary
- Moonshot AI — Kimi K3.1-Pro License (LICENSE file, 4 Nov 2026) — — primary