Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Kimi K2.6
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) comes out ahead, 68 to 65 and 54 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
xAIGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)
68/100- ECI152.0
- Price$1.25 / $2.50
- Context1M
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 Max Preview
54/100- ECI149.2
- Price$1.30 / $7.80
- Context262K
Moonshot AIKimi K2.6
65/100- ECI151.1
- Price$0.95 / $4.00
- Context262K
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is our pick
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Kimi K2.6 (65) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on price and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 152.0 · Kimi K2.6 151.1 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2
- Lowest priceGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) $1.56 · Kimi K2.6 $1.71 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGrok 4.20 (Reasoning)Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 1,000,000 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 · Kimi K2.6 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsGrok 4.20 (Reasoning) and Kimi K2.6Grok 4.20 (Reasoning): Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text · Kimi K2.6: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingKimi K2.6Publishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) | Qwen3.6 Max Preview | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 81 | 77 | 79 |
| Price | 25% | 41 | 28 | 39 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 35 | 80 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 68/100 | 54/100 | 65/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Grok 4.20 (Reasoning)xAI | Qwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen) | Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 152.0 (best) | 149.2 | 151.1 |
| ECI rank | #41 of 148 (best) | #54 of 148 | #45 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 89.3% | 87.4% | 90.8% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 44.9% | — | 57.2% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 92.2% | 91.1% | 96.1% (best) |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | — | 76.7% | 76.7% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 30.2% | 52.0% (best) | 34.9% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.25 | $1.30 | $0.95 (best) |
| Output | $2.50 (best) | $7.80 | $4.00 |
| Cached input | $0.20 | $0.13 (best) | $0.16 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.56 (best) | $2.92 | $1.71 |
| Long-context rate | Over 200K: $2.50 / $5.00 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official xAI API | Official Alibaba API | Official Moonshot AI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 30,000 tokens | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | grok-4.20-0309-reasoning | qwen3.6-max-preview | kimi-k2.6 |
| API providers | 11 | 10 | 46 (best) |
| Released | Mar 9, 2026 | Apr 20, 2026 | Apr 21, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2025 | 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.
- Grok 4.20 (Reasoning)$17.50
- Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
- Kimi K2.6$17.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok 4.20 (Reasoning), Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Kimi K2.6?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against Kimi K2.6 (65) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on price and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning), Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Kimi K2.6?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) is cheaper at $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). Kimi K2.6 costs $0.95 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (official Moonshot AI API price); Qwen3.6 Max Preview costs $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.56 per million tokens for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) versus $1.71 for Kimi K2.6 (1.1× as much) and $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (1.9× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 152.0 (#41 of 148), Kimi K2.6 151.1 (#45 of 148) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (149.3–154.4 vs 149.1–152.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Kimi K2.6 90.8%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 89.3%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Kimi K2.6 96.1%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 92.2%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%, Kimi K2.6 34.9%, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 30.2%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) 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?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview and 262,144 for Kimi K2.6. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) up to 30,000, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536, Kimi K2.6 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text; Kimi K2.6 accepts text, images and video. Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Kimi K2.6 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Kimi K2.6 is the newest, released Apr 21, 2026. Qwen3.6 Max Preview came out Apr 20, 2026; Grok 4.20 (Reasoning) came out Mar 9, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Max Preview Apr 2025, 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.
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