# Kimi K2.5 Instant vs Qwen3.8 Max

> Qwen3.8 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 56.8 to 43.6 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/kimi-k2-5-instant-vs-qwen3-8-max
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 18

## Summary

- They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. Kimi K2.5 Instant scores higher in 1 category and Qwen3.8 Max in 8 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where Qwen3.8 Max leads 73.2 to 39.4.
- Kimi K2.5 Instant has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Moonshot AI | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 43.6 | 56.8 |
| Rank | 89 | 22 |
| Context | — | 1M |
| Input $/M | — | $2 |
| Output $/M | — | $6 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |

## Coding

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 42.6 (#97)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 53.5 (#29)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1404 | 1674 |
| LMArena Coding | 1484 | 1502 |
| DeepSWE | — | 57.5% |
| FrontierSWE | — | 17.8% |
| SciCode | — | 53.2% |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: —
- Qwen3.8 Max: 45.4 (#14)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | — | 63.3% |
| τ²-bench Banking | — | 55.1% |
| GDP.pdf | — | 23.2% |

## Reasoning

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 29.7 (#90)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 54.4 (#26)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1443 | 1496 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 88.3% |
| CritPt | — | 20% |
| Chess Puzzles | — | 40% |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | — | 38% |
| DTBench | — | 92% |
| LMCA | — | 46.2% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | — | 156.41 |

## Math

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 39.4 (#105)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 73.2 (#20)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Math | 1442 | 1499 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | — | 74.7% |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | — | 46.3% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | — | 100% |
| ProofBench | — | 58% |

## Knowledge

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 40.2 (#123)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 61.7 (#27)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1440 | 1507 |
| GPQA Diamond | — | 92.7% |
| SimpleQA Verified | — | 47.3% |

## Multimodal

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 40.2 (#50)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 37.2 (#75)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Vision | 1254 | 1314 |
| Furniture Assembly | — | 20% |

## Multilingual

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 52.0 (#94)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 56.7 (#18)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1406 | 1472 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1449 | 1538 |
| LMArena French | 1403 | 1503 |
| LMArena German | 1413 | 1483 |
| LMArena Korean | 1378 | 1461 |
| LMArena Russian | 1404 | 1481 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1447 | 1492 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1467 |

## Instruction Following

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 75.3 (#65)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 77.6 (#17)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1430 | 1479 |

## Long Context

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 43.9 (#83)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 45.6 (#31)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1435 | 1489 |

## Writing & Preference

- Kimi K2.5 Instant: 60.6 (#95)
- Qwen3.8 Max: 67.1 (#30)

| Benchmark | Kimi K2.5 Instant | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1420 | 1483 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1381 | 1479 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1427 | 1489 |

## FAQ

### Is Kimi K2.5 Instant better than Qwen3.8 Max?

Qwen3.8 Max is the stronger model overall, scoring 56.8 to 43.6 on the Noometry Index.

### Is Kimi K2.5 Instant or Qwen3.8 Max better for coding?

Qwen3.8 Max scores higher on coding benchmarks: 53.5 versus 42.6 in the Noometry coding category.

### How many benchmarks do Kimi K2.5 Instant and Qwen3.8 Max share?

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. Kimi K2.5 Instant has 18 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.8 Max has 39.