mlsanityData to 7 Oct 2026

KAN or MLP: A Fairer Comparison

arXiv 2407.16674 ↗First posted 23 Jul 2024cs.LG cs.AIcited by 71

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Abstract (arXiv)

This paper does not introduce a novel method. Instead, it offers a fairer and more comprehensive comparison of KAN and MLP models across various tasks, including machine learning, computer vision, audio processing, natural language processing, and symbolic formula representation. Specifically, we control the number of parameters and FLOPs to compare the performance of KAN and MLP. Our main observation is that, except for symbolic formula representation tasks, MLP generally outperforms KAN. We also conduct ablation studies on KAN and find that its advantage in symbolic formula representation mainly stems from its B-spline activation function. When B-spline is applied to MLP, performance in symbolic formula representation significantly improves, surpassing or matching that of KAN. However, in other tasks where MLP already excels over KAN, B-spline does not substantially enhance MLP's performance. Furthermore, we find that KAN's forgetting issue is more severe than that of MLP in a standard class-incremental continual learning setting, which differs from the findings reported in the KAN paper. We hope these results provide insights for future research on KAN and other MLP alternatives. Project link: https://github.com/yu-rp/KANbeFair

Key facts. Cited by 71 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 1 of its 9 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 23 Jul 2024.

Builds on

1 of 9 references.

References · 1

  1. 2024Chebyshev Polynomial-Based Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks: An Efficient Architecture for Nonlinear Function Approximationcited by 115

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Cited by year (2026 to 7 Oct)

Citing papers per year: 2024: 23; 2025: 34; 2026: 14.

71 papers.

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  1. 2024KAN 2.0: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks Meet Sciencecited by 116
  2. 2024Kolmogorov-Arnold Transformercited by 56
  3. 2024KAN-AD: Time Series Anomaly Detection with Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 20
  4. 2024FC-KAN: Function Combinations in Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 18
  5. 2024PointNet with KAN versus PointNet with MLP for 3D Classification and Segmentation of Point Setscited by 15
  6. 2024PowerMLP: An Efficient Version of KANcited by 14
  7. 2025KANEL'E: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks for Efficient LUT-based Evaluationcited by 13
  8. 2024On the Robustness of Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks: An Adversarial Perspectivecited by 11
  9. 2025Quantum Variational Activation Functions Empower Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 10
  10. 2024Multifidelity Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 9
  11. 2024Exploring Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks for Interpretable Time Series Classificationcited by 8
  12. 2024KAN versus MLP on Irregular or Noisy Functionscited by 7
38 more
  1. 2024A preliminary study on continual learning in computer vision using Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 7
  2. 2025Surrogate Learning in Meta-Black-Box Optimization: A Preliminary Studycited by 7
  3. 2024Are KANs Effective for Multivariate Time Series Forecasting?cited by 6
  4. 2024Rethinking the Function of Neurons in KANscited by 5
  5. 2024Residual Kolmogorov-Arnold Network for Enhanced Deep Learningcited by 5
  6. 2025CVKAN: Complex-Valued Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 5
  7. 2024The Energy Cost of Artificial Intelligence Lifecycle in Communication Networkscited by 4
  8. 2024Incorporating Arbitrary Matrix Group Equivariance into KANscited by 4
  9. 2025Exploring Adversarial Transferability between Kolmogorov-arnold Networkscited by 4
  10. 2025Leveraging KANs for Expedient Training of Multichannel MLPs via Preconditioning and Geometric Refinementcited by 4
  11. 2024KACQ-DCNN: Uncertainty-Aware Interpretable Kolmogorov-Arnold Classical-Quantum Dual-Channel Neural Network for Heart Disease Detectioncited by 3
  12. 2024KANs for Computer Vision: An Experimental Studycited by 3
  13. 2025AF-KAN: Activation Function-Based Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks for Efficient Representation Learningcited by 3
  14. 2025Physics-informed KAN PointNet: Deep learning for simultaneous solutions to inverse problems in incompressible flow on numerous irregular geometriescited by 3
  15. 2025Conformalized-KANs: Uncertainty Quantification with Coverage Guarantees for Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs) in Scientific Machine Learningcited by 3
  16. 2025FlashKAT: Understanding and Addressing Performance Bottlenecks in the Kolmogorov-Arnold Transformercited by 3
  17. 2025Interpretable Clinical Classification with Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 3
  18. 2025Automatic Grid Updates for Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks using Layer Histogramscited by 3
  19. 2026Symbolic--KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks with Discrete Symbolic Structure for Interpretable Learningcited by 3
  20. 2024MLP-KAN: Unifying Deep Representation and Function Learningcited by 2
  21. 2024P1-KAN: an effective Kolmogorov-Arnold network with application to hydraulic valley optimizationcited by 2
  22. 2024From KAN to GR-KAN: Advancing Speech Enhancement with KAN-Based Methodologycited by 2
  23. 2025Kolmogorov-Arnold Attention: Is Learnable Attention Better For Vision Transformers?cited by 2
  24. 2025X-KAN: Optimizing Local Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks via Evolutionary Rule-Based Machine Learningcited by 2
  25. 2025Shift-Invariant Attribute Scoring for Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks via Shapley Valuecited by 2
  26. 2025MetaCluster: Enabling Deep Compression of Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkcited by 2
  27. 2026Free-RBF-KAN: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks with Adaptive Radial Basis Functions for Efficient Function Learningcited by 2
  28. 2026Rational ANOVA Networkscited by 2
  29. 2024KAT to KANs: A Review of Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks and the Neural Leap Forwardcited by 1
  30. 2025Efficiency Bottlenecks of Convolutional Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks: A Comprehensive Scrutiny with ImageNet, AlexNet, LeNet and Tabular Classificationcited by 1
  31. 2025Low Tensor-Rank Adaptation of Kolmogorov--Arnold Networkscited by 1
  32. 2025TSKANMixer: Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks with MLP-Mixer Model for Time Series Forecastingcited by 1
  33. 2025MLPs and KANs for data-driven learning in physical problems: A performance comparisoncited by 1
  34. 2025SPPSFormer: High-quality Superpoint-based Transformer for Roof Plane Instance Segmentation from Point Cloudscited by 1
  35. 2025Bridging KAN and MLP: MJKAN, a Hybrid Architecture with Both Efficiency and Expressivenesscited by 1
  36. 2025Sinusoidal Approximation Theorem for Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 1
  37. 2025Lookup multivariate Kolmogorov-Arnold Networkscited by 1
  38. 2025PO-CKAN:Physics Informed Deep Operator Kolmogorov Arnold Networks with Chunk Rational Structurecited by 1

50 most cited of 71 All 71 (JSON)