How to Download Kimi K3 for PC (Windows & Mac)

Searching for a Kimi K3 PC download? Here’s the important thing to know first: for everyday use Kimi K3 is a cloud AI model, so there’s no “model file” to install (the open weights are a ~1.56TB server-class download, though extreme low-RAM experiments exist) — but there is an official desktop app called Kimi Work, plus a web version and a developer CLI. This guide covers all three, with steps for Windows and Mac.

Option 1: Kimi Work — the official desktop app

Kimi Work is Moonshot AI’s desktop application (v3.1.0+) with Kimi K3 built in. It’s designed for deep research, widgets, and dashboards — the full PC experience.

How to get it

1. Go to the official site: kimi.com (verify it’s the real one — fake Kimi sites are circulating).
2. Find the Kimi Work / Download section.
3. Choose your platform:
   • Windows — standard installer.
   • macOS — Apple silicon build (M1/M2/M3/M4).
4. Install, sign in with your Kimi account, and select Kimi K3 as your model.

Safety note: only download Kimi Work from kimi.com. Since the July 16 launch, unofficial “Kimi K3 installer” sites have appeared — some bundle malware. The official app is free to download; you should never pay a third party for it.

Option 2: Use K3 in your browser (no download)

If you just want Kimi K3 on your PC without installing anything:

1. Open kimi.com in any browser on Windows, Mac, or Linux.
2. Sign up (a free account works for trying Kimi).
3. Start chatting, and pick K3 in the model menu if your plan includes it.

The free tier is fine for a first look, but Moonshot’s docs list K3 access only on paid plans: Plus and above under the Go / Plus / Pro / Max lineup launched September 18, 2026, or Moderato and above on legacy plans. Moonshot doesn’t say which model free users get.

Option 3: Kimi Code — for developers

If by “download for PC” you mean coding with K3 in your terminal or IDE, you want Kimi Code:

1. Install Kimi Code following the official docs at kimi.com.
2. Run it in your terminal.
3. Type /model and switch to Kimi K3.

Kimi Code needs a Plus membership or above (K3 at 256K context; the full 1M window needs Pro), or a pay-as-you-go API key; our Kimi Code K3 setup guide has the details. Since September 11, the kimi-for-coding model in Kimi Code is served by K2.8 Preview, so pick K3 explicitly in /model if that’s what you want.

Kimi Code is an agentic coding tool — at launch K3 took the #1 spot on the Frontend Code Arena and won SWE Marathon (42.0 vs Claude Opus 4.8’s 40.0), so it’s a strong daily driver for real dev work.

What about the API?

For apps and automation, skip downloads entirely and use the OpenAI-compatible API. Keys and docs live at platform.kimi.ai (the old platform.moonshot.ai redirects there), the base URL is still https://api.moonshot.ai/v1, and the API unlocks after a $1 top-up:

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="YOUR_MOONSHOT_API_KEY",
    base_url="https://api.moonshot.ai/v1",
)

resp = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="kimi-k3",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello from my PC"}],
)

System requirements

	Kimi Work (desktop)	Web version
Windows	Windows 10/11, 64-bit	Any modern browser
macOS	Apple silicon (M1 or newer)	Any modern browser
Internet	Required (cloud model)	Required

Because K3 runs in the cloud, you don’t need a powerful PC — the 2.8-trillion-parameter model runs on Moonshot’s infrastructure, not yours.

Frequently asked questions

Is Kimi K3 free on PC? Kimi Work and the web version are free to download and use on the free tier, but Moonshot’s docs list Kimi K3 access only on paid plans (Plus and above since September 18, 2026, or legacy Moderato and above), and Moonshot does not say which model free users get. The API needs a $1 top-up.

Can I download the Kimi K3 model itself to run offline? Not practically. The open weights were released July 27, 2026 on Hugging Face, but the full checkpoint is about 1.56TB and needs multi-GPU server hardware. Unsloth’s GGUF quantizations start around 466GB, and a disk-streaming engine can run K3 in about 8GB of RAM at roughly 26 to 33 seconds per token. For 99% of users, the app or web version is the right answer.

Is there a Linux version of Kimi Work? At launch, Kimi Work targets Windows and Apple silicon macOS. Linux users can use the full-featured web version at kimi.com.

Kimi Work vs the web version — which should I use? Kimi Work adds desktop-native deep research, widgets, and dashboards. If you just want to chat with K3, the web version is faster to start with. More details in our complete Kimi K3 guide.