GPT-5 mini vs Kimi K2.6
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
OpenAI · Aug 2025
A fast, cheap distillation of GPT-5 for high-volume workloads — one fifth of the flagship's price with most of its everyday capability.
Moonshot AI · Apr 2026
Moonshot's multimodal flagship that ties GPT-5.5 on several coding evaluations at a fraction of the price, with open weights.
The verdict
Kimi K2.6 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-5 mini. GPT-5 mini is about 2.5x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). GPT-5 mini also takes 400K of context versus 262K for Kimi K2.6. And Kimi K2.6 is open-weights (Modified MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
Benchmark head-to-head 0–1
Specs & pricing
| GPT-5 mini | Kimi K2.6 | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | — |
| Input price / 1M | $0.25 | $0.95 |
| Output price / 1M | $2 | $4 |
| Context window | 400K | 262K |
| Max output | 128K | 262K |
| Open weights | no | yes (Modified MIT) |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text, image | text, image |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2024 | Feb 2026 |
| Released | Aug 2025 | Apr 2026 |
| Example monthly cost* | $5.50 | $15.50 |
* 10M input + 1.5M output tokens per month at list prices, no caching. Green = better value on that row.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better, GPT-5 mini or Kimi K2.6?
- Kimi K2.6 wins 1 of the 1 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-5 mini. GPT-5 mini is about 2.5x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). GPT-5 mini also takes 400K of context versus 262K for Kimi K2.6. And Kimi K2.6 is open-weights (Modified MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
- Which is cheaper, GPT-5 mini or Kimi K2.6?
- GPT-5 mini costs $0.25/$2 per million input/output tokens, while Kimi K2.6 costs $0.95/$4. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $5.50 versus $15.50.
- Which model is better for coding, GPT-5 mini or Kimi K2.6?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — Kimi K2.6 scores ~82.5% versus ~71% for GPT-5 mini, making Kimi K2.6 the stronger pick for coding agents.