Model comparison
Kimi K2.5 Instant vs Nova 2 Lite
Kimi K2.5 Instant is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.6 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 16 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 16 benchmarks with published results for both. Kimi K2.5 Instant scores higher in 7 categories and Nova 2 Lite in 1 category; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where Kimi K2.5 Instant leads 60.6 to 53.9.
- Kimi K2.5 Instant has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Moonshot AI | Amazon |
| Noometry Index | 43.6 | 39.7 |
| Released | — | 2025-12-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | — | 1M |
| Max output | — | 64K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.30 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $2.50 |
| Results tracked | 18 | 19 |
Sponsored placements are available on pages like this one. Advertise on Noometry
Category by category
Coding Kimi K2.5 Instant leads
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 42.6 (#97), Nova 2 Lite: 40.7 (#134)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1484 | 1385 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1404 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Kimi K2.5 Instant: —, Nova 2 Lite: 24.1 (#121)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard | — | 27.1% |
Reasoning Kimi K2.5 Instant leads
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 29.7 (#90), Nova 2 Lite: 27.5 (#118)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1443 | 1364 |
Math Kimi K2.5 Instant leads
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 39.4 (#105), Nova 2 Lite: 37.5 (#156)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1442 | 1359 |
Knowledge Nova 2 Lite leads
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 40.2 (#123), Nova 2 Lite: 43.0 (#94)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1440 | 1358 |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 5.1% |
Multimodal Not comparable
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 40.2 (#50), Nova 2 Lite: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1254 | — |
Multilingual Kimi K2.5 Instant leads
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 52.0 (#94), Nova 2 Lite: 47.1 (#153)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1406 | 1337 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1449 | 1364 |
| LMArena French | 1403 | 1381 |
| LMArena German | 1413 | 1343 |
| LMArena Korean | 1378 | 1284 |
| LMArena Russian | 1404 | 1343 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1447 | 1373 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1271 |
Instruction Following Kimi K2.5 Instant leads
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 75.3 (#65), Nova 2 Lite: 70.5 (#161)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1430 | 1335 |
Long Context Kimi K2.5 Instant leads
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 43.9 (#83), Nova 2 Lite: 40.6 (#150)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1435 | 1335 |
Writing & Preference Kimi K2.5 Instant leads
Kimi K2.5 Instant: 60.6 (#95), Nova 2 Lite: 53.9 (#154)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Nova 2 Lite |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1420 | 1362 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1381 | 1291 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1427 | 1338 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Kimi K2.5 Instant better than Nova 2 Lite?
Kimi K2.5 Instant is the stronger model overall, scoring 43.6 to 39.7 on the Noometry Index.
Is Kimi K2.5 Instant or Nova 2 Lite better for coding?
Kimi K2.5 Instant scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.6 versus 40.7 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Kimi K2.5 Instant and Nova 2 Lite share?
16 benchmarks have published results for both models. Kimi K2.5 Instant has 18 scored results on Noometry and Nova 2 Lite has 19.