Kimi K2.5 vs Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68, Kimi K2.5 65). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Moonshot AIKimi K2.5
65/100- ECI148.0
- Price$0.60 / $3.00
- Context262K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 35B-A3B
68/100- ECI143.9
- Price$0.248 / $1.49
- Context262K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68/100, Kimi K2.5 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2.5 for raw capability and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityKimi K2.5Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2.5 148.0 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9
- Lowest priceQwen3.6 35B-A3BQwen3.6 35B-A3B $0.557 · Kimi K2.5 $1.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameKimi K2.5 262,144 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.6 35B-A3BKimi K2.5: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Kimi K2.5 | Qwen3.6 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 76 | 70 |
| Price | 25% | 46 | 62 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 65/100 | 68/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Kimi K2.5Moonshot AI | Qwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 148.0 (best) | 143.9 |
| ECI rank | #58 of 148 (best) | #83 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 87.6% (best) | 84.9% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 20.4% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 92.2% (best) | 86.7% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 73.8% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 34.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.60 | $0.248 (best) |
| Output | $3.00 | $1.49 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.20 | $0.557 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 21 providers | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | Open |
| API model ID | — | qwen3.6-35b-a3b |
| API providers | 21 | 34 (best) |
| Released | Jan 27, 2026 | Apr 17, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 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.
- Kimi K2.5$12.00
- Qwen3.6 35B-A3B$5.45
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Kimi K2.5 or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 68/100, Kimi K2.5 65/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2.5 for raw capability and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2.5 or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is cheaper at $0.248 input / $1.49 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Kimi K2.5 costs $0.60 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (median across 21 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.557 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B versus $1.20 for Kimi K2.5 (2.2× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Kimi K2.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2.5 148.0 (#58 of 148) and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9 (#83 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (146.5–149.3 vs 141.2–146.0), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Kimi K2.5 87.6%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 84.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Kimi K2.5 92.2%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 86.7%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Kimi K2.5 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?
Kimi K2.5 and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Kimi K2.5 up to 262,144, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Kimi K2.5 accepts text, images and video; Qwen3.6 35B-A3B accepts text, images, audio and video. Qwen3.6 35B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the newest, released Apr 17, 2026. Kimi K2.5 came out Jan 27, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Kimi K2.5 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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