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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs Kimi K2 Thinking

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 mini 60, Kimi K2 Thinking 58). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  2. Moonshot AI

    Kimi K2 Thinking

    Released Nov 6, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI146.0
    • Price$0.60 / $2.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Kimi K2 Thinking

  3. Add a model

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Kimi K2 Thinking 58/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2 Thinking for raw capability, GPT-4.1 mini on price and GPT-4.1 mini for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityKimi K2 ThinkingCapabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2 Thinking 146.0 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Kimi K2 Thinking $1.07 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Kimi K2 Thinking 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Kimi K2 Thinking: Text
  • Self-hostingKimi K2 ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniKimi K2 Thinking
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5973
Price25%5748
Inputs & features15%7035
Context window10%6137
Overall100%60/10058/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GPT-4.1 mini vs Kimi K2 Thinking specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIKimi K2 ThinkingMoonshot AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.0146.0 (best)
ECI rank#115 of 148#72 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9%84.2% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7%83.1% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.60
Output$1.60 (best)$2.50
Cached input$0.10—
Blended (3:1)$0.70 (best)$1.07
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 10 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-4.1-mini—
API providers24 (best)10
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Nov 6, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Aug 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
  • Kimi K2 Thinking$11.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini or Kimi K2 Thinking?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Kimi K2 Thinking 58/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2 Thinking for raw capability, GPT-4.1 mini on price and GPT-4.1 mini for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini or Kimi K2 Thinking?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (median across 10 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.70 per million tokens for GPT-4.1 mini versus $1.07 for Kimi K2 Thinking (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Kimi K2 Thinking scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2 Thinking 146.0 (#72 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (143.4–147.6 vs 131.2–136.6), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Kimi K2 Thinking 84.2%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Kimi K2 Thinking 83.1%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini and Kimi K2 Thinking yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Kimi K2 Thinking leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Kimi K2 Thinking. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Kimi K2 Thinking up to 262,144 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Kimi K2 Thinking accepts text. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Kimi K2 Thinking publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Kimi K2 Thinking is the newest, released Nov 6, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Kimi K2 Thinking Aug 2024.

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.

05 — Keep comparing

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