Kimi K2 Thinking vs Qwen3-Max
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
Moonshot AI · Nov 2025
A trillion-parameter open reasoning agent that can chain 200–300 tool calls — the open-weights agentic standout of late 2025.
Alibaba (Qwen) · Sep 2025
Alibaba's trillion-parameter API flagship — frontier-adjacent quality with strong agentic tool use at mid-tier prices.
The verdict
Kimi K2 Thinking and Qwen3-Max split the 4 benchmarks they share evenly (2–2), so capability alone won't settle this one. Kimi K2 Thinking is about 2.2x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). And Kimi K2 Thinking 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 2–2
Specs & pricing
| Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3-Max | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | 67.6 | 80.5 |
| Input price / 1M | $0.6 | $1.2 |
| Output price / 1M | $2.5 | $6 |
| Context window | 262K | 262K |
| Max output | — | 66K |
| Open weights | yes (Modified MIT) | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text | text |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Jun 2025 |
| Released | Nov 2025 | Sep 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $9.75 | $21.00 |
* 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, Kimi K2 Thinking or Qwen3-Max?
- Kimi K2 Thinking and Qwen3-Max split the 4 benchmarks they share evenly (2–2), so capability alone won't settle this one. Kimi K2 Thinking is about 2.2x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). And Kimi K2 Thinking is open-weights (Modified MIT), so it can be self-hosted — a structural advantage if data control or vendor independence matters.
- Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Thinking or Qwen3-Max?
- Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.6/$2.5 per million input/output tokens, while Qwen3-Max costs $1.2/$6. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $9.75 versus $21.00.
- Which model is better for coding, Kimi K2 Thinking or Qwen3-Max?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — Kimi K2 Thinking scores 71.3% versus 69.6% for Qwen3-Max, making Kimi K2 Thinking the stronger pick for coding agents.