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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.8 Max vs Kimi K2.6

Qwen3.8 Max comes out ahead, 69 to 65 on our weighted score, though Kimi K2.6 is 43% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max

    Released Aug 3, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI156.6
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 Max

  2. Moonshot AI

    Kimi K2.6

    Released Apr 21, 2026

    65/100
    • ECI151.1
    • Price$0.95 / $4.00
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Kimi K2.6

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.8 Max is our pick

Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Kimi K2.6 (65). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Kimi K2.6 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.8 MaxCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 · Kimi K2.6 151.1
  • Lowest priceKimi K2.6Kimi K2.6 $1.71 · Qwen3.8 Max $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 · Kimi K2.6 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 MaxQwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Kimi K2.6: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingKimi K2.6Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 MaxKimi K2.6
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8679
Price25%2739
Inputs & features15%9080
Context window10%6037
Overall100%69/10065/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.8 Max vs Kimi K2.6 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)156.6 (best)151.1
ECI rank#20 of 148 (best)#45 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions92.7% (best)90.8%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics74.7% (best)57.2%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics99.4% (best)96.1%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—76.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions45.8% (best)34.9%
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.95 (best)
Output$6.00$4.00 (best)
Cached input$0.25$0.16 (best)
Blended (3:1)$3.00$1.71 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Moonshot AI API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYeslow · medium · xhighYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDqwen3.8-maxkimi-k2.6
API providers2546 (best)
ReleasedAug 3, 2026Apr 21, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 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.

  • Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
  • Kimi K2.6$17.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max or Kimi K2.6?

Qwen3.8 Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against Kimi K2.6 (65). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Kimi K2.6 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 Max or Kimi K2.6?

Kimi K2.6 is cheaper at $0.95 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (official Moonshot AI API price). Qwen3.8 Max costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.8 Max scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148) and Kimi K2.6 151.1 (#45 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (154.5–158.8 vs 149.1–152.8), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%, Kimi K2.6 90.8%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%, Kimi K2.6 57.2%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, Kimi K2.6 96.1%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.8 Max 45.8%, Kimi K2.6 34.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.8 Max 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?

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

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Kimi K2.6 accepts text, images and video. Qwen3.8 Max handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 Max is the newest, released Aug 3, 2026. Kimi K2.6 came out Apr 21, 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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