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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed vs Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen3.8 Max Preview

Kimi K2.6 comes out ahead, 51 to 47 and 44 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Moonshot AI

    Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed

    Released Jun 12, 2026

    44/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.90 / $8.00
    • Context262K
  2. Our pick

    Moonshot AI

    Kimi K2.6

    Released Apr 21, 2026

    51/100
    • ECI151.1
    • Price$0.95 / $4.00
    • Context262K
  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max Preview

    Released Jul 19, 2026

    47/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
01 — Verdict

Kimi K2.6 is our pick

Kimi K2.6 is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Qwen3.8 Max Preview (47) and Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed (44). It leads on price. Qwen3.8 Max Preview wins on 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 K2.6Kimi K2.6 $1.71 · Qwen3.8 Max Preview $3.00 · Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed $3.42 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.8 Max PreviewQwen3.8 Max Preview 1,000,000 · Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed 262,144 · Kimi K2.6 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsKimi K2.7 Code Highspeed: Text, Images, Video · Kimi K2.6: Text, Images, Video · Qwen3.8 Max Preview: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingKimi K2.7 Code Highspeed and Kimi K2.6Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightKimi K2.7 Code HighspeedKimi K2.6Qwen3.8 Max Preview
Price50%253927
Inputs & features30%808070
Context window20%373760
Overall100%44/10051/10047/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed vs Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen3.8 Max Preview specifications side by side
SpecificationKimi K2.7 Code HighspeedMoonshot AIKimi K2.6Moonshot AIQwen3.8 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—151.1—
ECI rank—#45 of 148—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—90.8%—
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—57.2%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—96.1%—
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—76.7%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—34.9%—
Price per million tokens
Input$1.90$0.95 (best)$2.00
Output$8.00$4.00 (best)$6.00
Cached input—$0.16—
Blended (3:1)$3.42$1.71 (best)$3.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial Moonshot AI APIMedian of 6 providers
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output262,144 tokens (best)262,144 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoYesYesYes
ReasoningYesYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenProprietary
API model ID—kimi-k2.6—
API providers1146 (best)6
ReleasedJun 12, 2026Apr 21, 2026Jul 19, 2026
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 K2.7 Code Highspeed$35.00
  • Kimi K2.6$17.50
  • Qwen3.8 Max Preview$32.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed, Kimi K2.6 or Qwen3.8 Max Preview?

Kimi K2.6 is the better all-round choice, scoring 51/100 against Qwen3.8 Max Preview (47) and Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed (44). It leads on price. Qwen3.8 Max Preview wins on 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 K2.7 Code Highspeed, Kimi K2.6 or Qwen3.8 Max Preview?

Kimi K2.6 is cheaper at $0.95 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (official Moonshot AI API price). Qwen3.8 Max Preview costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers); Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed costs $1.90 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.71 per million tokens for Kimi K2.6 versus $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max Preview (1.8× as much) and $3.42 for Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed (2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed has not been scored yet, Kimi K2.6 has an ECI of 151.1 and Qwen3.8 Max Preview has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed and Qwen3.8 Max Preview 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?

Qwen3.8 Max Preview has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed and 262,144 for Kimi K2.6. Maximum output per response: Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed up to 262,144, Kimi K2.6 up to 262,144, Qwen3.8 Max Preview up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed accepts text, images and video; Kimi K2.6 accepts text, images and video; Qwen3.8 Max Preview accepts text, images and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed and Kimi K2.6 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.8 Max Preview is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 Max Preview is the newest, released Jul 19, 2026. Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed came out Jun 12, 2026; Kimi K2.6 came out Apr 21, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed Jan 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.