Kimi K2 Instruct vs Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash comes out ahead, 66 to 57 and 50 on our weighted score, though Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 is 2.8× cheaper per token.
Moonshot AIKimi K2 Instruct
50/100- ECI139.9
- Price$0.57 / $2.30
- Context131K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507
57/100- ECI138.8
- Price$0.199 / $0.60
- Context262K
- Our pick
GoogleGemini 2.5 Flash
66/100- ECI140.6
- Price$0.30 / $2.50
- Context1.05M
Gemini 2.5 Flash is our pick
Gemini 2.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 (57) and Kimi K2 Instruct (50). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 2.5 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash 140.6 · Kimi K2 Instruct 139.9 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 138.8
- Lowest priceQwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 $0.299 · Gemini 2.5 Flash $0.85 · Kimi K2 Instruct $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 2.5 FlashGemini 2.5 Flash 1,048,576 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 262,144 · Kimi K2 Instruct 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 2.5 FlashKimi K2 Instruct: Text · Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507: Text · Gemini 2.5 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingKimi K2 Instruct and Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507Publishes downloadable weights (Modified MIT and Apache 2.0)
| Measure | Weight | Kimi K2 Instruct | Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 | Gemini 2.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 64 | 63 | 65 |
| Price | 25% | 48 | 72 | 51 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 25 | 25 | 100 |
| Context window | 10% | 25 | 37 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 57/100 | 66/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Kimi K2 InstructMoonshot AI | Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507Alibaba (Qwen) | Gemini 2.5 FlashGoogle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 139.9 | 138.8 | 140.6 (best) |
| ECI rank | #112 of 165 | #118 of 165 | #110 of 165 (best) |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.57 | $0.199 (best) | $0.30 |
| Output | $2.30 | $0.60 (best) | $2.50 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.03 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.00 | $0.299 (best) | $0.85 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 11 providers | Median of 23 providers | Official Google API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 262,144 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 16,384 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | Yes |
| Video | No | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | OpenModified MIT | OpenApache 2.0 | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | — | gemini-2.5-flash |
| API providers | 11 | 25 | 32 (best) |
| Released | Jul 11, 2025 | Jul 21, 2025 | Jun 17, 2025 |
| 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 Instruct$10.30
- Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507$3.19
- Gemini 2.5 Flash$8.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Kimi K2 Instruct, Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 or Gemini 2.5 Flash?
Gemini 2.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 (57) and Kimi K2 Instruct (50). It leads on inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Instruct, Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 or Gemini 2.5 Flash?
Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 is cheaper at $0.199 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 23 API providers). Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $0.30 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Kimi K2 Instruct costs $0.57 input / $2.30 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.299 per million tokens for Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 versus $0.85 for Gemini 2.5 Flash (2.8× as much) and $1.00 for Kimi K2 Instruct (3.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 2.5 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 2.5 Flash 140.6 (#110 of 165), Kimi K2 Instruct 139.9 (#112 of 165) and Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 138.8 (#118 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (138.4–142.1 vs 136.3–141.6), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Kimi K2 Instruct, Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 and Gemini 2.5 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 2.5 Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 2.5 Flash has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 and 131,072 for Kimi K2 Instruct. Maximum output per response: Kimi K2 Instruct up to 32,768, Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 up to 16,384, Gemini 2.5 Flash up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Kimi K2 Instruct accepts text; Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 accepts text; Gemini 2.5 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Kimi K2 Instruct and Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 publishes its weights (Modified MIT and Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3 235B-A22B Instruct 2507 is the newest, released Jul 21, 2025. Kimi K2 Instruct came out Jul 11, 2025; Gemini 2.5 Flash came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash 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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