Model comparison

DeepSeek-V3.1 vs Kimi K2.6

Kimi K2.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.5 to 42.2 on the Noometry Index. DeepSeek-V3.1 costs 4.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K2.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 23 shared benchmarks.

DeepSeek-V3.1 DeepSeek

42.2

Rank #106 Confirmed

Kimi K2.6 Moonshot AI

47.5

Rank #52 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 23 benchmarks with published results for both. DeepSeek-V3.1 scores higher in 0 categories and Kimi K2.6 in 8 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where Kimi K2.6 leads 56.8 to 36.1.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is WeirdML: 38.4% for DeepSeek-V3.1 and 55.9% for Kimi K2.6.
  • DeepSeek-V3.1 is cheaper at $0.25 / $0.95 per million input/output tokens, against $0.95 / $4 for Kimi K2.6.
  • Kimi K2.6 accepts more context: 262K tokens versus 164K.

Side by side

DeepSeek-V3.1 and Kimi K2.6 specifications
DeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
ProviderDeepSeekMoonshot AI
Noometry Index42.247.5
Released2025-08-212026-04-20
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window164K262K
Max output8K262K
Input $ / M tokens$0.25$0.95
Output $ / M tokens$0.95$4
Results tracked2751

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Category by category

Coding Kimi K2.6 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 39.8 (#140), Kimi K2.6: 50.5 (#41)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
WeirdML38.4%55.9%
LMArena Coding14171488
SWE-bench Verified—76.7%
LMArena WebDev—1509
SciCode—53.5%
ALE-Bench—1,093

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

DeepSeek-V3.1: —, Kimi K2.6: 21.8 (#128)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
OSWorld 2.0—4.6%
ExploitBench—18.4%
GBAEval—0.9%
GDP.pdf—12%
Vending-Bench 2—6,205

Reasoning Kimi K2.6 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 27.3 (#109), Kimi K2.6: 39.6 (#51)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
LMArena Hard Prompts14171470
DTBench82.7%90.9%
LMCA24.3%37.3%
Epoch Capabilities Index139.92151.03
SimpleBench40%—
Kagi LLM Benchmark53.2%—
NYT Connections (extended)—87.2%
CritPt—8%
Chess Puzzles—26%
EBR-Bench—2.4%
Mystery Game Puzzles—18%
ForecastBench58—

Math Kimi K2.6 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 36.1 (#125), Kimi K2.6: 56.8 (#34)

Knowledge Kimi K2.6 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 43.0 (#86), Kimi K2.6: 53.9 (#48)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
Vectara Hallucination Rate5.5%10.8%
LMArena Expert14031491
GPQA Diamond—90.8%
SimpleQA Verified—34.9%

Multimodal Not comparable

DeepSeek-V3.1: —, Kimi K2.6: 31.8 (#95)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision—1282
Blueprint-Bench 2—3.9%
Furniture Assembly—21.7%
LMArena Document—1451

Multilingual Kimi K2.6 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 51.8 (#100), Kimi K2.6: 55.1 (#35)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
LMArena Non-English14001446
LMArena Chinese14701521
LMArena French14471471
LMArena German14121449
LMArena Japanese13741442
LMArena Korean13371428
LMArena Russian14051446
LMArena Spanish14291463

Instruction Following Kimi K2.6 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 74.1 (#105), Kimi K2.6: 76.5 (#40)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
LMArena Instruction Following14001451

Long Context Kimi K2.6 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 36.3 (#227), Kimi K2.6: 44.9 (#50)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
LMArena Longer Query14221468
Fiction.LiveBench52.8%—

Writing & Preference Kimi K2.6 leads

DeepSeek-V3.1: 60.5 (#93), Kimi K2.6: 68.7 (#25)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkDeepSeek-V3.1Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text14201455
LMArena Creative Writing14011434
EQ-Bench Creative Writing14361725
LMArena Multi-Turn14081453
EQ-Bench 4—1202

Frequently asked questions

Is DeepSeek-V3.1 better than Kimi K2.6?

Kimi K2.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.5 to 42.2 on the Noometry Index. DeepSeek-V3.1 costs 4.0× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K2.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-V3.1 or Kimi K2.6?

DeepSeek-V3.1 is cheaper. It lists at $0.25 per million input tokens and $0.95 per million output tokens; Kimi K2.6 lists at $0.95 and $4.

Is DeepSeek-V3.1 or Kimi K2.6 better for coding?

Kimi K2.6 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.5 versus 39.8 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Kimi K2.6 does, with 262K tokens against 164K.

How many benchmarks do DeepSeek-V3.1 and Kimi K2.6 share?

23 benchmarks have published results for both models. DeepSeek-V3.1 has 27 scored results on Noometry and Kimi K2.6 has 51.

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