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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Kimi K2 Thinking vs GPT-4.1 mini

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 mini 60, Kimi K2 Thinking 58). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Moonshot AI

    Kimi K2 Thinking

    Released Nov 6, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI146.0
    • Price$0.60 / $2.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Kimi K2 Thinking

  2. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  3. Add a model

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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Kimi K2 Thinking 58/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2 Thinking for raw capability, GPT-4.1 mini on price and GPT-4.1 mini for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityKimi K2 ThinkingCapabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2 Thinking 146.0 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Kimi K2 Thinking $1.07 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Kimi K2 Thinking 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniKimi K2 Thinking: Text · GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingKimi K2 ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightKimi K2 ThinkingGPT-4.1 mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7359
Price25%4857
Inputs & features15%3570
Context window10%3761
Overall100%58/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Kimi K2 Thinking vs GPT-4.1 mini specifications side by side
SpecificationKimi K2 ThinkingMoonshot AIGPT-4.1 miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)146.0 (best)135.0
ECI rank#72 of 148 (best)#115 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions84.2% (best)65.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—6.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics83.1% (best)44.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—12.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.60$0.40 (best)
Output$2.50$1.60 (best)
Cached input—$0.10
Blended (3:1)$1.07$0.70 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 10 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,047,576 tokens (best)
Max output262,144 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—gpt-4.1-mini
API providers1024 (best)
ReleasedNov 6, 2025Apr 14, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Apr 2024
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 Thinking$11.00
  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Kimi K2 Thinking or GPT-4.1 mini?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Kimi K2 Thinking 58/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Kimi K2 Thinking for raw capability, GPT-4.1 mini on price and GPT-4.1 mini for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Thinking or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (median across 10 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.70 per million tokens for GPT-4.1 mini versus $1.07 for Kimi K2 Thinking (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Kimi K2 Thinking scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2 Thinking 146.0 (#72 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (143.4–147.6 vs 131.2–136.6), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Kimi K2 Thinking 84.2%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Kimi K2 Thinking 83.1%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Kimi K2 Thinking and GPT-4.1 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Kimi K2 Thinking 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?

GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Kimi K2 Thinking. Maximum output per response: Kimi K2 Thinking up to 262,144, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Kimi K2 Thinking accepts text; GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Kimi K2 Thinking publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Kimi K2 Thinking is the newest, released Nov 6, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Kimi K2 Thinking Aug 2024, GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024.

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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