Kimi K2.5 vs Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 vs Qwen3.6 Plus
Qwen3.6 Plus comes out ahead, 59 to 50 and 38 on our weighted score.
Moonshot AIKimi K2.5
50/100- ECI148.1
- Price$0.60 / $3.00
- Context262K
- Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct 0905
38/100- ECI—
- Price$0.60 / $2.50
- Context262K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 Plus
59/100- ECI147.8
- Price$0.50 / $3.00
- Context1M
Qwen3.6 Plus is our pick
Qwen3.6 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Kimi K2.5 (50) and Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 (38). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceKimi K2 Instruct 0905Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 $1.07 · Qwen3.6 Plus $1.13 · Kimi K2.5 $1.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Plus 1,000,000 · Kimi K2.5 262,144 · Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsKimi K2.5 and Qwen3.6 PlusKimi K2.5: Text, Images, Video · Kimi K2 Instruct 0905: Text · Qwen3.6 Plus: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingKimi K2.5 and Kimi K2 Instruct 0905Publishes downloadable weights (Modified MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Kimi K2.5 | Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 | Qwen3.6 Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 44 | 46 | 45 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 70 | 25 | 80 |
| Context window | 20% | 37 | 37 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 38/100 | 59/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Kimi K2.5Moonshot AI | Kimi K2 Instruct 0905Moonshot AI | Qwen3.6 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 148.1 (best) | — | 147.8 |
| ECI rank | #68 of 165 (best) | — | #69 of 165 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 87.6% | — | 88.4% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | — | 38.3% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 92.2% | — | 93.3% (best) |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 73.8% (best) | — | 57.9% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 34.3% | — | 44.1% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.60 | $0.60 | $0.50 (best) |
| Output | $3.00 | $2.50 (best) | $3.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.05 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.20 | $1.07 (best) | $1.13 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Over 256K: $2.00 / $6.00 |
| Price source | Median of 33 providers | Median of 12 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 98,304 tokens | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | OpenModified MIT | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — | qwen3.6-plus |
| API providers | 33 (best) | 13 | 22 |
| Released | Jan 27, 2026 | Sep 5, 2025 | Apr 2, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | — | Apr 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Kimi K2.5$12.00
- Kimi K2 Instruct 0905$11.00
- Qwen3.6 Plus$11.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Kimi K2.5, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 or Qwen3.6 Plus?
Qwen3.6 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 59/100 against Kimi K2.5 (50) and Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 (38). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2.5, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 or Qwen3.6 Plus?
Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 is cheaper at $0.60 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (median across 12 API providers). Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Kimi K2.5 costs $0.60 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (median across 33 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.07 per million tokens for Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 versus $1.13 for Qwen3.6 Plus (1× as much) and $1.20 for Kimi K2.5 (1.1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Kimi K2.5 has an ECI of 148.1, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 has not been scored yet and Qwen3.6 Plus has an ECI of 147.8.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen3.6 Plus has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Kimi K2.5 and 262,144 for Kimi K2 Instruct 0905. Maximum output per response: Kimi K2.5 up to 262,144, Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 up to 98,304, Qwen3.6 Plus up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Kimi K2.5 accepts text, images and video; Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 accepts text; Qwen3.6 Plus accepts text, images and video. Kimi K2.5 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Kimi K2.5 and Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 publishes its weights (Modified MIT) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.6 Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.6 Plus is the newest, released Apr 2, 2026. Kimi K2.5 came out Jan 27, 2026; Kimi K2 Instruct 0905 came out Sep 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Kimi K2.5 Jan 2025, Qwen3.6 Plus Apr 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 Nov 2, 2026.
