Models

Kimi K2.6 vs Kimi K3

Compare Kimi K2.6 from Moonshot AI and Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI on key metrics including benchmarks, price, context length, and other model features. Access both models and hundreds of others through the AIHubMix API.

Moonshot AIKimi K2.6Moonshot AIKimi K3
Moonshot AI logo
Kimi K2.6
Moonshot AI · text, image, video → text

Kimi K2.6 is Kimi's latest and most intelligent model, with stronger and more stable long-range code-writing capabilities, significantly improved instruction-following and self-correction abilities, and support for text, image, and video inputs, thinking and non-thinking modes, as well as dialogue and Agent tasks.The model has a context length of 256k, supports long-form thinking, and excels at deep reasoning.

Input$0.95 /M
Output$4.00 /M
Moonshot AI logo
Kimi K3
Moonshot AI · text, image, video → text

Kimi K3 is Kimi’s flagship model for long-horizon coding and end-to-end knowledge work, with a 1M-token context window and industry-leading intelligence.

Input$3.00 /M
Output$15.00 /M

Pricing & Specifications

Prices are per million tokens. Time to First Token and throughput are rolling averages measured on AIHubMix.

Kimi K2.6
Kimi K3
Input /M
$0.95
$3.00
Output /M
$4.00
$15.00
Cache read /M
$0.16
$0.30
Context length
262,144
1,048,576
Max output
32,768
1,048,576
Time to First Token
1.6 s
0.9 s
Throughput
43.4 tok/s
73.1 tok/s
Modalities
textimagevideo
textimagevideo
Supported Parameters
thinkingfunction callingstructured outputs
thinkingfunction callingstructured outputs
API Formats
Released
-
-

Promotional prices show the discounted rate; see each model page for promotion windows.

Activity Past 30 Days

Daily traffic served through AIHubMix — how demand for each model is trending.

kimi-k2.6kimi-k3

Tokens / day

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Requests / day

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Performance Past 3 Days

Measured on real AIHubMix traffic, hourly buckets. Gaps mean no traffic in that hour.

kimi-k2.6kimi-k3

Throughput (tok/s)

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TTFT (s)

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Uptime (%)

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LMArena Benchmarks

LMArena ratings by capability (Bradley-Terry, commonly called Elo). Higher is better.

Text
kimi-k2.6kimi-k3
14001440148015201560
Overall
14611486
Coding
15141531
Math
14781478
Hard prompts
14851505
Instruction following
14541479
Multi-turn
14601499
Creative writing
14301470
Longer query
14761502
Chinese
15271528
English
14681491

Source: LMArena (arena.ai) leaderboard, imported by AIHubMix. Models without published ratings are omitted per chart.

Cost calculator

Estimate your monthly bill for the same workload on each model.

Kimi K2.6
$117 /mo
Kimi K3
$405 /mo

Monthly = daily × 30. Discounted rates applied where a promotion is active.

FAQ

Which is cheaper: Kimi K2.6, Kimi K3?

Kimi K2.6: $4.00/M output tokens; Kimi K3: $15.00/M. Use the cost calculator above to estimate your own workload.

How do their coding arena scores compare?

Kimi K3: 1531; Kimi K2.6: 1514 (LMArena coding leaderboard).

Which responds faster?

Kimi K3: 0.9s time to first token measured on AIHubMix; see the live performance charts above for how each model behaves across the day.

How large is each context window?

Kimi K2.6 accepts 262,144 and Kimi K3 accepts 1,048,576 input tokens. Maximum output per request is 32,768 tokens on Kimi K2.6 and 1,048,576 tokens on Kimi K3.

Which one generates tokens faster?

Kimi K3 at 73.1 tok/s and Kimi K2.6 at 43.4 tok/s, measured as output throughput on AIHubMix — a separate metric from time to first token.

What inputs and capabilities does each model support?

Kimi K2.6 accepts text, image and video input and supports thinking, function calling and structured outputs; Kimi K3 accepts text, image and video input and supports thinking, function calling and structured outputs.

Can I call Kimi K2.6 and Kimi K3 with the same API key?

Yes. AIHubMix serves every model on this page behind one OpenAI-compatible endpoint, so switching between them is a one-line change to the model field — no second account, key or SDK.

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