Model comparison
Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Kimi K2.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.7 to 34.3 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3 Coder Next costs 5.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when Kimi K2.6's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 3 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 3 benchmarks with published results for both. Kimi K2.6 scores higher in 2 categories and Qwen3 Coder Next in 0 categories; 2 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in reasoning, where Kimi K2.6 leads 40.5 to 22.4.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is WeirdML: 55.9% for Kimi K2.6 and 34.4% for Qwen3 Coder Next.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is cheaper at $0.12 / $0.80 per million input/output tokens, against $0.95 / $4 for Kimi K2.6.
Side by side
| Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Moonshot AI | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 47.7 | 34.3 |
| Released | 2026-04-20 | 2026-02-02 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 262K | 262K |
| Max output | 262K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $0.95 | $0.12 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $4 | $0.80 |
| Results tracked | 51 | 3 |
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Category by category
Coding Kimi K2.6 leads
Kimi K2.6: 50.7 (#43), Qwen3 Coder Next: 36.3 (#210)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 53.5% | 32.3% |
| WeirdML | 55.9% | 34.4% |
| SWE-bench Verified | 76.7% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1509 | — |
| LMArena Coding | 1488 | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,093 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
Kimi K2.6: 21.9 (#137), Qwen3 Coder Next: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| OSWorld 2.0 | 4.6% | — |
| ExploitBench | 18.4% | — |
| GBAEval | 0.9% | — |
| GDP.pdf | 12% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 6,205 | — |
Reasoning Kimi K2.6 leads
Kimi K2.6: 40.5 (#55), Qwen3 Coder Next: 22.4 (#196)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 8% | 0% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 87.2% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 26% | — |
| EBR-Bench | 2.4% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1470 | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 18% | — |
| DTBench | 90.9% | — |
| LMCA | 37.3% | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 151.05 | — |
Math Not comparable
Kimi K2.6: 57.0 (#41), Qwen3 Coder Next: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 57.2% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 25.6% | — |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | 72.9% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 96.1% | — |
| ProofBench | 16% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1475 | — |
| FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set) | 39% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 (v1) | 14.6% | — |
Knowledge Not comparable
Kimi K2.6: 54.0 (#54), Qwen3 Coder Next: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 90.8% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 34.9% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | 10.8% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1491 | — |
Multimodal Not comparable
Kimi K2.6: 31.6 (#103), Qwen3 Coder Next: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1283 | — |
| Blueprint-Bench 2 | 3.9% | — |
| Furniture Assembly | 21.7% | — |
| LMArena Document | 1451 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
Kimi K2.6: 54.9 (#37), Qwen3 Coder Next: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1446 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1521 | — |
| LMArena French | 1471 | — |
| LMArena German | 1450 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1443 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1427 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1446 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1464 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
Kimi K2.6: 76.3 (#43), Qwen3 Coder Next: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1451 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
Kimi K2.6: 44.9 (#52), Qwen3 Coder Next: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1468 | — |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
Kimi K2.6: 68.5 (#26), Qwen3 Coder Next: —
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1455 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1434 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 1725 | — |
| EQ-Bench 4 | 1202 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1453 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is Kimi K2.6 better than Qwen3 Coder Next?
Kimi K2.6 is the stronger model overall, scoring 47.7 to 34.3 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3 Coder Next costs 5.9× 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 Coder Next?
Qwen3 Coder Next is cheaper. It lists at $0.12 per million input tokens and $0.80 per million output tokens; Kimi K2.6 lists at $0.95 and $4.
Is Kimi K2.6 or Qwen3 Coder Next better for coding?
Kimi K2.6 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 50.7 versus 36.3 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both accept 262K tokens.
How many benchmarks do Kimi K2.6 and Qwen3 Coder Next share?
3 benchmarks have published results for both models. Kimi K2.6 has 51 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3 Coder Next has 3.