Model comparison
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo vs Step 3.5 Flash
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.8 to 42.3 on the Noometry Index.
Last verified . 17 shared benchmarks.
StepFunSummary
- They share 17 benchmarks with published results for both. Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo scores higher in 7 categories and Step 3.5 Flash in 1 category; 5 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in knowledge, where Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo leads 50.9 to 39.6.
Side by side
| Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Moonshot AI | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 45.8 | 42.3 |
| Released | 2025-11-06 | 2026-01-29 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | — | 256K |
| Max output | — | 256K |
| Input $ / M tokens | — | $0.10 |
| Output $ / M tokens | — | $0.30 |
| Results tracked | 21 | 19 |
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Category by category
Coding Step 3.5 Flash leads
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo: 38.4 (#178), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.4 (#105)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1454 | 1436 |
| LMArena WebDev | 1322 | — |
Reasoning Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo leads
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo: 32.5 (#75), Step 3.5 Flash: 22.2 (#202)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1428 | 1411 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| Chess Puzzles | 20% | — |
Math Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo leads
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo: 47.4 (#68), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.6 (#84)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1429 | 1408 |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 83.1% | — |
Knowledge Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo leads
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo: 50.9 (#69), Step 3.5 Flash: 39.6 (#132)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1439 | 1421 |
| GPQA Diamond | 84.2% | — |
Multilingual Too close to call
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo: 51.4 (#109), Step 3.5 Flash: 50.5 (#119)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1398 | 1385 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1456 | 1447 |
| LMArena French | 1425 | 1421 |
| LMArena German | 1390 | 1405 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1357 | 1354 |
| LMArena Korean | 1330 | 1352 |
| LMArena Russian | 1391 | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1406 | 1419 |
Instruction Following Too close to call
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo: 74.0 (#109), Step 3.5 Flash: 73.1 (#124)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1403 | 1385 |
Long Context Too close to call
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo: 43.2 (#102), Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#117)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1415 | 1402 |
Writing & Preference Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo leads
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo: 60.0 (#104), Step 3.5 Flash: 58.8 (#113)
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1415 | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1374 | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1414 | 1405 |
Frequently asked questions
Is Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo better than Step 3.5 Flash?
Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.8 to 42.3 on the Noometry Index.
Is Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?
Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 42.4 versus 38.4 in the Noometry coding category.
How many benchmarks do Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo and Step 3.5 Flash share?
17 benchmarks have published results for both models. Kimi K2 Thinking Turbo has 21 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.