Qwen3 Max vs Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking comes out ahead, 58 to 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 Max
50/100- ECI142.4
- Price$1.20 / $6.00
- Context262K
- Our pick
Moonshot AIKimi K2 Thinking
58/100- ECI146.0
- Price$0.60 / $2.50
- Context262K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Kimi K2 Thinking is our pick
Kimi K2 Thinking is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityKimi K2 ThinkingCapabilities Index (ECI): Kimi K2 Thinking 146.0 · Qwen3 Max 142.4
- Lowest priceKimi K2 ThinkingKimi K2 Thinking $1.07 · Qwen3 Max $2.40 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3 Max 262,144 · Kimi K2 Thinking 262,144 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3 Max: Text · Kimi K2 Thinking: Text
- Self-hostingKimi K2 ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3 Max | Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 68 | 73 |
| Price | 25% | 32 | 48 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 25 | 35 |
| Context window | 10% | 37 | 37 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 58/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen3 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Kimi K2 ThinkingMoonshot AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 142.4 | 146.0 (best) |
| ECI rank | #91 of 148 | #72 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 72.6% | 84.2% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 19.0% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 73.3% | 83.1% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 48.8% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.20 | $0.60 (best) |
| Output | $6.00 | $2.50 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.40 | $1.07 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Median of 10 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | qwen3-max | — |
| API providers | 16 (best) | 10 |
| Released | Sep 23, 2025 | Nov 6, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Aug 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen3 Max$24.00
- Kimi K2 Thinking$11.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3 Max or Kimi K2 Thinking?
Kimi K2 Thinking is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against Qwen3 Max (50). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3 Max or Kimi K2 Thinking?
Kimi K2 Thinking is cheaper at $0.60 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (median across 10 API providers). Qwen3 Max costs $1.20 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 $1.07 per million tokens for Kimi K2 Thinking versus $2.40 for Qwen3 Max (2.2× 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 Qwen3 Max 142.4 (#91 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (143.4–147.6 vs 140.0–144.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Kimi K2 Thinking 84.2%, Qwen3 Max 72.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Kimi K2 Thinking 83.1%, Qwen3 Max 73.3%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 Max and Kimi K2 Thinking 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?
Qwen3 Max and Kimi K2 Thinking share the same 262,144-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 Max up to 65,536, Kimi K2 Thinking up to 262,144 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3 Max accepts text; Kimi K2 Thinking accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Kimi K2 Thinking publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3 Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Kimi K2 Thinking is the newest, released Nov 6, 2025. Qwen3 Max came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 Max Apr 2025, Kimi K2 Thinking Aug 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.
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