Model comparison

Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen3.6 Flash

Kimi K2.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.7 to 38.8 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.6 Flash costs 4.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K2.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 12 shared benchmarks.

Kimi K2.6 Moonshot AI

47.7

Rank #60 Confirmed

Qwen3.6 Flash Alibaba (Qwen)

38.8

Rank #182 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 12 benchmarks with published results for both. Kimi K2.6 scores higher in 3 categories and Qwen3.6 Flash in 0 categories; 3 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where Kimi K2.6 leads 57.0 to 39.0.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3): 57.2% for Kimi K2.6 and 22.5% for Qwen3.6 Flash.
  • Qwen3.6 Flash is cheaper at $0.19 / $1.13 per million input/output tokens, against $0.95 / $4 for Kimi K2.6.
  • Qwen3.6 Flash accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 262K.
  • Kimi K2.6 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

Kimi K2.6 and Qwen3.6 Flash specifications
Kimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
ProviderMoonshot AIAlibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index47.738.8
Released2026-04-202026-04-27
WeightsOpenProprietary
Context window262K1M
Max output262K66K
Input $ / M tokens$0.95$0.19
Output $ / M tokens$4$1.13
Results tracked5113

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Category by category

Coding Not comparable

Kimi K2.6: 50.7 (#43), Qwen3.6 Flash: —

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
ALE-Bench1,093326.4
SWE-bench Verified76.7%—
LMArena WebDev1509—
SciCode53.5%—
WeirdML55.9%—
LMArena Coding1488—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

Kimi K2.6: 21.9 (#137), Qwen3.6 Flash: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
OSWorld 2.04.6%—
ExploitBench18.4%—
GBAEval0.9%—
GDP.pdf12%—
Vending-Bench 26,205—

Reasoning Kimi K2.6 leads

Kimi K2.6: 40.5 (#55), Qwen3.6 Flash: 29.0 (#96)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
Chess Puzzles26%20%
Mystery Game Puzzles18%18%
DTBench90.9%77.1%
LMCA37.3%31%
Epoch Capabilities Index151.05143.26
SimpleBench—35.2%
NYT Connections (extended)87.2%—
CritPt8%—
EBR-Bench2.4%—
LMArena Hard Prompts1470—

Math Kimi K2.6 leads

Kimi K2.6: 57.0 (#41), Qwen3.6 Flash: 39.0 (#117)

Knowledge Kimi K2.6 leads

Kimi K2.6: 54.0 (#54), Qwen3.6 Flash: 42.1 (#100)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
GPQA Diamond90.8%83.3%
SimpleQA Verified34.9%15.9%
Vectara Hallucination Rate10.8%—
LMArena Expert1491—

Multimodal Not comparable

Kimi K2.6: 31.6 (#103), Qwen3.6 Flash: —

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
LMArena Vision1283—
Blueprint-Bench 23.9%—
Furniture Assembly21.7%—
LMArena Document1451—

Multilingual Not comparable

Kimi K2.6: 54.9 (#37), Qwen3.6 Flash: —

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
LMArena Non-English1446—
LMArena Chinese1521—
LMArena French1471—
LMArena German1450—
LMArena Japanese1443—
LMArena Korean1427—
LMArena Russian1446—
LMArena Spanish1464—

Instruction Following Not comparable

Kimi K2.6: 76.3 (#43), Qwen3.6 Flash: —

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
LMArena Instruction Following1451—

Long Context Not comparable

Kimi K2.6: 44.9 (#52), Qwen3.6 Flash: —

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
LMArena Longer Query1468—

Writing & Preference Not comparable

Kimi K2.6: 68.5 (#26), Qwen3.6 Flash: —

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkKimi K2.6Qwen3.6 Flash
LMArena Text1455—
LMArena Creative Writing1434—
EQ-Bench Creative Writing1725—
EQ-Bench 41202—
LMArena Multi-Turn1453—

Frequently asked questions

Is Kimi K2.6 better than Qwen3.6 Flash?

Kimi K2.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.7 to 38.8 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.6 Flash costs 4.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K2.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, Kimi K2.6 or Qwen3.6 Flash?

Qwen3.6 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.19 per million input tokens and $1.13 per million output tokens; Kimi K2.6 lists at $0.95 and $4.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3.6 Flash does, with 1M tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks do Kimi K2.6 and Qwen3.6 Flash share?

12 benchmarks have published results for both models. Kimi K2.6 has 51 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.6 Flash has 13.

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