Qwen3.6 Plus vs DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Kimi K2.5
Qwen3.6 Plus comes out ahead, 66 to 62 and 53 on our weighted score, though DeepSeek R1 0528 is 17% cheaper per token.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.6 Plus
66/100- ECI147.8
- Price$0.50 / $3.00
- Context1M
DeepSeekDeepSeek R1 0528
53/100- ECI141.2
- Price$0.512 / $2.19
- Context164K
Moonshot AIKimi K2.5
62/100- ECI148.1
- Price$0.60 / $3.00
- Context262K
Qwen3.6 Plus is our pick
Qwen3.6 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Kimi K2.5 (62) and DeepSeek R1 0528 (53). It leads on inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek R1 0528 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityKimi K2.5Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2.5 148.1 · Qwen3.6 Plus 147.8 · DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2
- Lowest priceDeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeek R1 0528 $0.932 · Qwen3.6 Plus $1.13 · Kimi K2.5 $1.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Plus 1,000,000 · Kimi K2.5 262,144 · DeepSeek R1 0528 163,840 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.6 Plus and Kimi K2.5Qwen3.6 Plus: Text, Images, Video · DeepSeek R1 0528: Text · Kimi K2.5: Text, Images, Video
- Self-hostingDeepSeek R1 0528 and Kimi K2.5Publishes downloadable weights (MIT)
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.6 Plus | DeepSeek R1 0528 | Kimi K2.5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 74 | 66 | 74 |
| Price | 25% | 45 | 49 | 44 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 35 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 28 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 66/100 | 53/100 | 62/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3.6 PlusAlibaba (Qwen) | DeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeek | Kimi K2.5Moonshot AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 147.8 | 141.2 | 148.1 (best) |
| ECI rank | #69 of 165 | #108 of 165 | #68 of 165 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 88.4% (best) | 76.3% | 87.6% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 38.3% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 93.3% (best) | 66.4% | 92.2% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 57.9% | — | 73.8% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 44.1% (best) | — | 34.3% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.50 (best) | $0.512 | $0.60 |
| Output | $3.00 | $2.19 (best) | $3.00 |
| Cached input | $0.05 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.13 | $0.932 (best) | $1.20 |
| Long-context rate | Over 256K: $2.00 / $6.00 | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Median of 16 providers | Median of 33 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 163,840 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 32,768 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | OpenMIT | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3.6-plus | — | — |
| API providers | 22 | 16 | 33 (best) |
| Released | Apr 2, 2026 | May 28, 2025 | Jan 27, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | — | 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.
- Qwen3.6 Plus$11.00
- DeepSeek R1 0528$9.50
- Kimi K2.5$12.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.6 Plus, DeepSeek R1 0528 or Kimi K2.5?
Qwen3.6 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against Kimi K2.5 (62) and DeepSeek R1 0528 (53). It leads on inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek R1 0528 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Plus, DeepSeek R1 0528 or Kimi K2.5?
DeepSeek R1 0528 is cheaper at $0.512 input / $2.19 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers). Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Kimi K2.5 costs $0.60 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (median across 33 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.932 per million tokens for DeepSeek R1 0528 versus $1.13 for Qwen3.6 Plus (1.2× as much) and $1.20 for Kimi K2.5 (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Kimi K2.5 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2.5 148.1 (#68 of 165), Qwen3.6 Plus 147.8 (#69 of 165) and DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2 (#108 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (146.3–149.5 vs 145.8–149.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.6 Plus 88.4%, Kimi K2.5 87.6%, DeepSeek R1 0528 76.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 Plus 93.3%, Kimi K2.5 92.2%, DeepSeek R1 0528 66.4%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek R1 0528 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Kimi K2.5 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?
Qwen3.6 Plus has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Kimi K2.5 and 163,840 for DeepSeek R1 0528. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.6 Plus up to 65,536, DeepSeek R1 0528 up to 32,768, Kimi K2.5 up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.6 Plus accepts text, images and video; DeepSeek R1 0528 accepts text; Kimi K2.5 accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.6 Plus handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
DeepSeek R1 0528 and Kimi K2.5 publishes its weights (MIT) and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.6 Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3.6 Plus is the newest, released Apr 2, 2026. Kimi K2.5 came out Jan 27, 2026; DeepSeek R1 0528 came out May 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Plus Apr 2025, Kimi K2.5 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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