Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Kimi K2.6 vs Muse Spark 1.1
Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73, Muse Spark 1.1 70, Kimi K2.6 65). The right pick depends on what you value most.
GoogleGemini 3.6 Flash
73/100- ECI154.3
- Price$0.75 / $3.75
- Context1.05M
Moonshot AIKimi K2.6
65/100- ECI151.1
- Price$0.95 / $4.00
- Context262K
MetaMuse Spark 1.1
70/100- ECI154.3
- Price$1.25 / $4.25
- Context1.05M
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73/100, Muse Spark 1.1 70/100, Kimi K2.6 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemini 3.6 Flash for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3.6 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 · Muse Spark 1.1 154.3 · Kimi K2.6 151.1
- Lowest priceGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash $1.50 · Kimi K2.6 $1.71 · Muse Spark 1.1 $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1Gemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · Muse Spark 1.1 1,048,576 · Kimi K2.6 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · Kimi K2.6: Text, Images, Video · Muse Spark 1.1: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingKimi K2.6Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Kimi K2.6 | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 84 | 79 | 84 |
| Price | 25% | 42 | 39 | 36 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 80 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 37 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 65/100 | 70/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle | Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI | Muse Spark 1.1Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 154.3 (best) | 151.1 | 154.3 |
| ECI rank | #34 of 148 (best) | #45 of 148 | #35 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 94.1% (best) | 90.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 59.0% (best) | 57.2% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 94.2% | 96.1% (best) | — |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | — | 76.7% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.2% (best) | 34.9% | 57.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.75 (best) | $0.95 | $1.25 |
| Output | $3.75 (best) | $4.00 | $4.25 |
| Cached input | $0.075 (best) | $0.16 | $0.15 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.50 (best) | $1.71 | $2.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Moonshot AI API | Official Meta API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-3.6-flash | kimi-k2.6 | muse-spark-1.1 |
| API providers | 25 | 46 (best) | 13 |
| Released | Jul 21, 2026 | Apr 21, 2026 | Jul 9, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 2026 | Jan 2025 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemini 3.6 Flash$15.00
- Kimi K2.6$17.50
- Muse Spark 1.1$21.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.6 or Muse Spark 1.1?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Gemini 3.6 Flash 73/100, Muse Spark 1.1 70/100, Kimi K2.6 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Gemini 3.6 Flash for raw capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.6 or Muse Spark 1.1?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is cheaper at $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price). Kimi K2.6 costs $0.95 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (official Moonshot AI API price); Muse Spark 1.1 costs $1.25 input / $4.25 output per million tokens (official Meta API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.50 per million tokens for Gemini 3.6 Flash versus $1.71 for Kimi K2.6 (1.1× as much) and $2.00 for Muse Spark 1.1 (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 (#34 of 148), Muse Spark 1.1 154.3 (#35 of 148) and Kimi K2.6 151.1 (#45 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (152.6–156.3 vs 152.2–157.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3.6 Flash 66.2%, Muse Spark 1.1 57.8%, Kimi K2.6 34.9%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 have the largest context windows (1,048,576 and 1,048,576 tokens), against 262,144 for Kimi K2.6. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536, Kimi K2.6 up to 262,144, Muse Spark 1.1 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; Kimi K2.6 accepts text, images and video; Muse Spark 1.1 accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 3.6 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Kimi K2.6 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemini 3.6 Flash is the newest, released Jul 21, 2026. Muse Spark 1.1 came out Jul 9, 2026; Kimi K2.6 came out Apr 21, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.6 Flash Mar 2026, Kimi K2.6 Jan 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
