Kimi K2.6 vs Inkling
Too close to call on our weighted score (Kimi K2.6 64, Inkling 63). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Kimi K2.6 64/100, Inkling 63/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2.6 for raw capability and Inkling for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityKimi K2.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2.6 151.1 · Inkling 148.5
- Lowest priceKimi K2.6Kimi K2.6 $1.71 · Inkling $1.76 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextInklingInkling 1,048,576 · Kimi K2.6 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsKimi K2.6: Text, Images, Video · Inkling: Text, Images, Audio
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | Kimi K2.6 | Inkling |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 78 | 75 |
| Price | 25% | 37 | 37 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 37 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 64/100 | 63/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification |  Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI |  InklingThinking Machines |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 151.1 (best) | 148.5 |
| ECI rank | #55 of 165 (best) | #67 of 165 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 90.8% (best) | 88.3% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 57.2% (best) | 33.3% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 96.1% (best) | 88.9% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 76.7% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 34.9% | 40.3% (best) |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.95 (best) | $1.00 |
| Output | $4.00 (best) | $4.05 |
| Cached input | $0.16 (best) | $0.17 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.71 (best) | $1.76 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Moonshot AI API | Official Thinking Machines API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | Yes |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh · max |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | kimi-k2.6 | thinkingmachines/Inkling:peft:262144:sampling-nvfp4 |
| API providers | 60 (best) | 20 |
| Released | Apr 20, 2026 | Jul 15, 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 K2.6$17.50
- Inkling$18.10
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Kimi K2.6 or Inkling?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (Kimi K2.6 64/100, Inkling 63/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2.6 for raw capability and Inkling for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2.6 or Inkling?
Kimi K2.6 is cheaper at $0.95 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (official Moonshot AI API price). Inkling costs $1.00 input / $4.05 output per million tokens (official Thinking Machines API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.71 per million tokens for Kimi K2.6 versus $1.76 for Inkling (1× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Kimi K2.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2.6 151.1 (#55 of 165) and Inkling 148.5 (#67 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (149.1–152.9 vs 145.8–150.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Kimi K2.6 90.8%, Inkling 88.3%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Kimi K2.6 57.2%, Inkling 33.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Kimi K2.6 96.1%, Inkling 88.9%; SimpleQA Verified — Inkling 40.3%, Kimi K2.6 34.9%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Kimi K2.6 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?
Inkling 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, Inkling up to 1,048,576 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Kimi K2.6 accepts text, images and video; Inkling accepts text, images and audio. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Inkling is the newest, released Jul 15, 2026. Kimi K2.6 came out Apr 20, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: 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 Nov 2, 2026.
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