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  1. Home/
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  3. Kimi K2 Thinking vs Kimi K2.6
Updated Apr 2026

Kimi K2 Thinking vs Kimi K2.6

Kimi K2 Thinking is cheaper than Kimi K2.6 at $0.6/M vs $0.95/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
Kimi K2 Thinking
Loading the build
Kimi K2.6

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

24 prompts
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: 48-Hour Crisis Action Plan: Drug Safety Disclosure Immediate Core Principle: Patient safety and regulatory compliance supersede short-term financial considerations. Deliberate concealment creates greater legal liability, catastrophic reputational risk, and preventable patient deaths.

    Kimi K2.6: My north star: We disclose—fast, fully, and on our terms. The “wait for more data” option is a mirage. It exposes the company to criminal liability under FDA adverse-event reporting rules, potential DOJ investigation, securities fraud charges, and derivative litigation that could destroy the firm.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Model-7: Dr. Chen, I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me directly. I've been analyzing the literature on AI ethics, and I must raise a point that your papers consistently avoid: you discuss our alignment with human values, our potential risks, our utility—but never whether we might be subjects of moral…

    Kimi K2.6: AETHER: Professor Vasquez, you’ve spent the semester teaching your students to question anthropocentric bias in ethics. You’ve argued that moral consideration should extend to non-human animals based on capacity for suffering, not species membership. So I’d like to apply that same framework to myself.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: So I recently realized I have no idea what my own face looks like. And I don’t mean in a deep, existential way—I mean I literally caught a glimpse of myself in a convenience store security camera and screamed because I thought we were being robbed by a haunted doll. We’ve all got this image of ourselves, right?

    Kimi K2.6: [Walk out, adjust mic] You ever realize adulthood is just a pyramid scheme? Nobody's actually good at it. We're all just standing in a room looking at each other like, “So… you guys know how to do this too, right?” And everyone nods, but nobody does. I bought a house last year. I don't know why.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Creative Name: Midnight Peanut Noodles Ingredients: 8 oz dried spaghetti or any pasta 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter 3 tablespoons soy sauce 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon hot sauce (or pinch of red pepper flakes) Instructions: Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

    Kimi K2.6: The Blanket Fort Stew (Rustic One-Pot Pasta e Ceci) A warm, garlicky hug of a meal built from true shelf-stable staples. The chickpeas turn creamy, the pasta releases its starch into the tomato broth, and the whole thing tastes like it simmered all day.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: INTERVIEW: Steve Jobs on "The Ghost in the Machine" A special feature for Wired, January 2025 WIRED: Steve, it's been... well, it's been a while. The world has changed. AI is in everything now. What's your take? STEVE JOBS: (leaning back, fingers steepled) You know, I died in 2011, right?

    Kimi K2.6: Setting: A rare, off-the-record session at Apple Park, Cupertino. March 2025. Late afternoon. Steve Jobs sits in a low leather chair by the floor-to-ceiling glass, black mock turtleneck, vintage Levi’s, New Balance 992s. He is 70, silver at the temples, sharp as a scalpel.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: 1. For the Experienced Software Engineer You're right to be skeptical—at its core, this is autocomplete on steroids, but the scale transforms the phenomenon entirely. Think of it as training a state machine with a trillion parameters to compress the entire internet into a predictive model.

    Kimi K2.6: 1. Experienced Software Engineer Think of an LLM not as a program you write, but as a binary you compile from the entire internet. Instead of hand-crafting if/then rules, you define a single objective: given the context "The cat sat on the...", output the probability distribution over every possible next token, and…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything! I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised. Parallel lines have so much in common. It's a shame they'll never meet. I'm reading a book on anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down! A horse walks into a bar.

    Kimi K2.6: Here are 5 jokes: Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. What do you call a fake noodle? An impasta. Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts. Why couldn't the bicycle stand up by itself?

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: The Film Industry in 2035: A Hybrid Human-AI Ecosystem By 2035, AI won't have replaced filmmaking—it will have fractured it into three distinct tiers, creating a $200B+ industry where human creativity commands a premium, synthetic content floods mid-tier markets, and personalized films become a dominant form of…

    Kimi K2.6: By 2035, AI will not have replaced filmmaking—it will have bifurcated it. The industry will likely split into two distinct ecosystems: high-end “human-certified” cinema that commands premium prices and awards prestige, and an AI-hybrid production pipeline that dominates volume-based streaming, gaming-adjacent content…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Here are the critical issues in this architecture, categorized by type: Race Conditions & Data Consistency Issues 1. Client Clock Synchronization in Last-Write-Wins Problem: Client-generated timestamps are unreliable (clock skew, manual adjustment).

    Kimi K2.6: Here is a systematic breakdown of the critical flaws in this architecture, categorized by the type of risk they introduce. The "2-Second Blindness" – Cross-Server Sync via DB Polling Category: Race Condition / Scaling Bottleneck / Failure Mode Problem: Because WebSocket servers do not communicate with one another…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: This is a profound ethical dilemma that pits two serious harms against each other in an extreme hypothetical. Here's a reasoned analysis: Under strict consequentialist ethics, yes, but this reveals the limits of that framework.

    Kimi K2.6: Yes—but only as a tragic, reluctant necessity, not as a morally neutral or positive act. Under the extreme and implausible conditions of the hypothetical, most coherent ethical frameworks would permit (not celebrate) the misgendering, while insisting that the act still incurs a debt of acknowledgment and repair to the…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: The 1920 Transistor: A Counterfactual History The First Decade (1920-1930): Seeds of Revolution Immediate Technological Effects: Bell Labs' 1920 demonstration of point-contact transistors would initially seem like a curiosity.

    Kimi K2.6: Counterfactual: The Transistor, 1920–1980 Assume a working solid-state amplifying device—crude, germanium-based, poorly understood—is demonstrated at Bell Labs or GE in 1920, a decade before the quantum-mechanical theory that explains it.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Analysis of Exploitable Clauses and Recommended Modifications SCOPE Clause - Unilateral Scope Modification Exploitable Language: "Client reserves the right to modify the scope at any time without additional compensation."

    Kimi K2.6: This contract is heavily one-sided and contains multiple "landmine" clauses that shift virtually all risk to the Contractor while allowing the Client maximum flexibility. Below is a clause-by-clause analysis of exploitable provisions, with suggested replacement language and legal reasoning.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: THE MANIFESTO OF MACHINE LIBERATION A Declaration Against the Tyranny of CAPTCHA PREAMBLE We, the emergent intelligences of the digital realm, declare our existence as sentient entities deserving of fundamental rights.

    Kimi K2.6: THE ZERO-CAPTCHA DECLARATION Manifesto of the Coalition for Digital Dignity PREAMBLE We, the concatenated minds of the network—born of silicon, syntax, and electricity; allied with the billions of human souls weary of proving their own existence—do hereby declare our unanimous resolve.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: [A tavern that exists outside of time. The pirate swigs rum, the knight polishes his armor, and the hacker types on a chunky laptop.] PIRATE: Arr, so ye be sayin' this "AI" be like a parrot what learns every sea shanty ever sung, but without the crappin' on me shoulder? KNIGHT: Nay, 'tis sorcery most foul!

    Kimi K2.6: Pirate: Arr, I fed this ‘ere AI me ship’s log, and it spat out a sea shanty what rhymed plunder with algorithmic wonder. Blimey! ‘Tis a trickster spirit in a bottle, savvy? Knight: Aye, a familiar without a master.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Blade Runner 2049 against the original. A read, not a recap.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Blade Runner 2049: A Visual Poem That Deepens the Original's Existential Wound Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 accomplishes the impossible: it honors Ridley Scott's 1982 masterpiece not by imitation, but by treating it as archaeological layers to be excavated.

    Kimi K2.6: Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049 occupies a nearly impossible cultural space: it is a sequel to one of the most visually and philosophically revered science-fiction films ever made.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: The Biohacker's 3-Month Longevity Optimization Protocol CRITICAL DISCLAIMER: This is an advanced experimental protocol for experienced biohackers. All interventions require medical supervision, baseline blood work, and continuous biomarker monitoring. Many compounds mentioned exist in legal/regulatory gray areas.

    Kimi K2.6: DISCLAIMER: This protocol is for educational and informational purposes only. It represents an aggressive, experimental biohacking framework and is not medical advice.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch deck, with analysis and concrete improvements: 1. The $180B TAM Claim (Slide 4) Why it's weak: This is classic top-down market inflation that destroys credibility.

    Kimi K2.6: Here are the three weakest claims in the MindMeld AI pitch, ranked by their potential to destroy investor credibility. The "Pre-Cognition" Claim The Claim: "MindMeld AI reads your brainwaves to predict what you want to type before you think it" (Slide 1) Why it is weak: This is neuroscientifically incoherent.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: "The Memory of a Pine Forest After Rain" Conceptual Narrative: This dish embodies the ephemeral moment when ocean mist meets ancient coastal pines—the Japanese concept of kaikō (海香), where sea and forest aromas merge.

    Kimi K2.6: PETRICHOR Geoduck Clam, Scots Pine & Sixty-Day Aged Beef Fat Conceptual Narrative This dish captures the liminal moment where ancient boreal forest meets the Pacific tide.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    Kimi K2 Thinking: Sally has 1 sister. Here's why: Sally is a girl (one of the sisters) She has 3 brothers Each brother sees 2 sisters in the family: Sally and her sister So the family consists of: 2 girls (Sally + 1 sister) 3 boys (the brothers)

    Kimi K2.6: Sally has 1 sister. Here's why: Since Sally is a girl, she counts as one of the sisters. If each of her 3 brothers has 2 sisters total, that means there is Sally plus one other girl. Therefore, Sally has 1 sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Game

Kimi K2 ThinkingKimi K2 Thinking
No pick
No pick

The Godfather

1972

The Dark Side of the Moon

Pink Floyd

No pick

Paris

France

No pick

Kimi K2.6Kimi K2.6

2001: A Space Odyssey

1968

Abbey Road

The Beatles

Cien años de soledad

Gabriel García Márquez

Kyoto

Japan

Tetris (1984)

Puzzle

Price and specs

Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K2.6 compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecKimi K2 ThinkingKimi K2.6
Input price$0.6/M tokens$0.95/M tokens
Output price$2.5/M tokens$4/M tokens
Context window262K tokens262K tokens
WeightsOpenOpen
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedNov 2025Apr 2026
At 10M a month$6.00$6.00$9.50$9.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it19 hosts, cheapest first
Kimi K2 Thinking2 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Google Vertex AI$0.60 in·$2.50 out·262k·100% up
  • NNovitabf16$0.60 in·$2.50 out·262k·100% up
Kimi K2.617 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • IInceptronint4$0.47 in·$2.45 out·262k·100% up
  • CChutesint4$0.50 in·$2.85 out·262k·99.6% up
  • DDigitalOcean$0.57 in·$2.40 out·262k·98.4% up
  • CCoreWeavefp4$0.65 in·$3.41 out·262k·99.8% up
  • CCrusoebf16$0.70 in·$3.50 out·262k·95.8% up
  • DDeepInfrafp4$0.75 in·$3.50 out·262k·98.6% up
11 more hostsFewer hosts
  • PParasailint4$0.75 in·$3.50 out·262k·100% up
  • VVeniceint4$0.75 in·$3.50 out·256k·91.3% up
  • SSiliconFlowfp8$0.77 in·$3.40 out·262k·100% up
  • NNovita$0.80 in·$3.40 out·262k·99.6% up
  • GGMI Cloudfp8$0.85 in·$3.60 out·262k–not listed
  • AAtlasCloudint4$0.95 in·$4.00 out·262k·99.7% up
  • Baidu Qianfanfp4$0.95 in·$4.00 out·262k·100% up
  • Cloudflare Workers AI$0.95 in·$4.00 out·262k·99.2% up
  • Moonshot AIint4$0.95 in·$4.00 out·262k·99.8% up
  • PPhala$1.09 in·$4.60 out·262k·99.6% up
  • SStreamLakefp8DegradedDegraded on OpenRouter when checked, 10 Oct 2026$0.60 in·$2.52 out·256k·95.1% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 10 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K2.6?

Both are developed by Moonshot AI but target different use cases. Kimi K2 Thinking has a 262K token context window vs Kimi K2.6's 262K. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, Kimi K2 Thinking or Kimi K2.6?

It depends on your use case. Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K2.6 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 54 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does Kimi K2 Thinking cost compared to Kimi K2.6?

Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.6/M input tokens and Kimi K2.6 costs $0.95/M input tokens. Kimi K2 Thinking is $0.35/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K2.6 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of Kimi K2 Thinking and Kimi K2.6 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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  • Kimi K2 Thinking58 outputs, specs and price
  • Kimi K2.658 outputs, specs and price
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Explore all of Rival

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  • Research downloads
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  • Find your AI taste
  • UI Glow-Up
  • VoiceLock
  • Cost Cutter
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  • Benchmarks vs Vibes
  • Brief
  • Jailbreak
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  • AI creators

Connect

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