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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Kimi K2.6 vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview

Gemini 3 Flash Preview comes out ahead, 73 to 65 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Moonshot AI

    Kimi K2.6

    Released Apr 21, 2026

    65/100
    • ECI151.1
    • Price$0.95 / $4.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Kimi K2.6
  2. Our pick

    Google

    Gemini 3 Flash Preview

    Released Dec 17, 2025

    73/100
    • ECI151.8
    • Price$0.50 / $3.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 3 Flash Preview

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is our pick

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Kimi K2.6 (65). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGemini 3 Flash PreviewCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3 Flash Preview 151.8 · Kimi K2.6 151.1
  • Lowest priceGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview $1.13 · Kimi K2.6 $1.71 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 3 Flash PreviewGemini 3 Flash Preview 1,048,576 · Kimi K2.6 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 3 Flash PreviewKimi K2.6: Text, Images, Video · Gemini 3 Flash Preview: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingKimi K2.6Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightKimi K2.6Gemini 3 Flash Preview
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7980
Price25%3947
Inputs & features15%80100
Context window10%3761
Overall100%65/10073/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Kimi K2.6 vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview specifications side by side
SpecificationKimi K2.6Moonshot AIGemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)151.1151.8 (best)
ECI rank#45 of 148#43 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions90.8% (best)89.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics57.2% (best)51.2%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics96.1% (best)95.6%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues76.7% (best)75.4%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions34.9%66.8% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.95$0.50 (best)
Output$4.00$3.00 (best)
Cached input$0.16$0.05 (best)
Blended (3:1)$1.71$1.13 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Moonshot AI APIOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output262,144 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoYes
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesYesminimal · low · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDkimi-k2.6gemini-3-flash-preview
API providers46 (best)20
ReleasedApr 21, 2026Dec 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Jan 2025
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.

  • Kimi K2.6$17.50
  • Gemini 3 Flash Preview$11.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Kimi K2.6 or Gemini 3 Flash Preview?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is the better all-round choice, scoring 73/100 against Kimi K2.6 (65). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Kimi K2.6 or Gemini 3 Flash Preview?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview is cheaper at $0.50 input / $3.00 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). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.13 per million tokens for Gemini 3 Flash Preview versus $1.71 for Kimi K2.6 (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3 Flash Preview 151.8 (#43 of 148) and Kimi K2.6 151.1 (#45 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (150.4–153.7 vs 149.1–152.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Kimi K2.6 90.8%, Gemini 3 Flash Preview 89.4%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Kimi K2.6 57.2%, Gemini 3 Flash Preview 51.2%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Kimi K2.6 96.1%, Gemini 3 Flash Preview 95.6%; SWE-bench Verified — Kimi K2.6 76.7%, Gemini 3 Flash Preview 75.4%; SimpleQA Verified — Gemini 3 Flash Preview 66.8%, Kimi K2.6 34.9%.

Which is better for coding?

Kimi K2.6 resolves more real GitHub issues on SWE-bench Verified: Kimi K2.6 76.7% and Gemini 3 Flash Preview 75.4%. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 3 Flash Preview has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Kimi K2.6. Maximum output per response: Kimi K2.6 up to 262,144, Gemini 3 Flash Preview up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Kimi K2.6 accepts text, images and video; Gemini 3 Flash Preview accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 3 Flash Preview 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 Flash Preview is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Kimi K2.6 is the newest, released Apr 21, 2026. Gemini 3 Flash Preview came out Dec 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Kimi K2.6 Jan 2025, Gemini 3 Flash Preview 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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