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Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K2.6

Claude Sonnet 5 leads Kimi K2.6 on coding, 57.7 to 52.1 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Kimi K2.6 costs 2.5x less per output token ($4.00 vs $10.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 101 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace Claude Sonnet 5 Replace Kimi K2.6
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic
Coding
57.7
Overall
63.2
Output $/M
$10.00
54
Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI
Coding
52.1
Overall
60.5
Output $/M
$4.00
45
vs boards won of 101 shared, 2 tied

Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K2.6: which to pick

Pick Claude Sonnet 5 for coding: it scores 57.7 on the Vibe Coding Index against 52.1 for Kimi K2.6.

Pick Kimi K2.6 for output tokens 2.5x cheaper ($4.00 vs $10.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.35 against $1.87).

Model AClaude Sonnet 5Anthropic57.7/1006 independent benchmarks$1.87 per solved taskModel BKimi K2.6Moonshot AI52.1/1003 independent benchmarks$0.35 per solved task
Shared results
101
Claude Sonnet 5 only
20
Kimi K2.6 only
8
Like-for-like categories
8 of 9

Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.

Which one for your work

Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.

At a glance

Coding index
Claude Sonnet 5 57.7 from 6 benchmarks, Kimi K2.6 52.1 from 3 benchmarks.
Widest category
Math, 12.7 points apart on average over 6 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
ProofBench: Claude Sonnet 5 77.0% against Kimi K2.6 16.0%, 61.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
Claude Sonnet 5 $10.00 against Kimi K2.6 $4.00 per million output tokens, 2.5x apart.
Context window
Claude Sonnet 5 takes 1M tokens, Kimi K2.6 262K.

Benchmark by benchmark

First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryClaude Sonnet 5BarsKimi K2.6Ties
Coding1231 tie
Intelligence20
Agentic work132
Reasoning471 tie
Math42
Knowledge47
Web design71
General823
All shared boards54452 ties
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index123
Coding benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
LiveBench coding74.7%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
LMArena WebDev15401509Claude Sonnet 5
AA Coding Index71.561.8Claude Sonnet 5
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)82.4%86.8%Kimi K2.6
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)79.6%76.2%Claude Sonnet 5
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)10.6%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)81.3%37.9%Claude Sonnet 5
Code migration (Vals AI)44.4%27.8%Claude Sonnet 5
ProgramBench (Vals AI)0.0%0.0%Tie
IOI (Vals AI)45.0%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)74.5%53.6%Claude Sonnet 5
Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI)13.8%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
SkillsBench (Vals AI)46.5%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
CyberBench (Vals AI)70.3%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
SciCode54.3%51.5%Claude Sonnet 5
Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run)Not measured43.9%Only Kimi K2.6 measured
FrontierCode42.7%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
GSO-Bench37.3%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
WeirdML68.8%55.9%Claude Sonnet 5
ALE-Bench1463.11092.7Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: coding14831489Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: software and IT14741484Kimi K2.6
LMArena WebDev: React15411505Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena WebDev: HTML15271485Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena WebDev: from an image15401521Claude Sonnet 5
SciCode10.7%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Intelligence benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
AA Intelligence Index38.227.0Claude Sonnet 5
Epoch Capabilities Index156.9150.9Claude Sonnet 5
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index132
Agentic work benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
AA Agentic Index43.620.5Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: agents building web apps12451268Kimi K2.6
Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps12491155Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps12151157Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: agents building Android apps12251160Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: agents building Godot games12251120Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: agents building games12271141Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: HTML slides12181184Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides12161128Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: spreadsheets10211276Kimi K2.6
LiveBench research82.8%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
LiveBench browser72.0%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
LiveBench long agentic39.0%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
SREBench (Vals AI)0.4%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)53.9%44.9%Claude Sonnet 5
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)29.4%12.4%Claude Sonnet 5
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)41.8%15.9%Claude Sonnet 5
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)66.3%57.9%Claude Sonnet 5
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)5.7%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
τ²-Bench TelecomNot measured95.9%Only Kimi K2.6 measured
APEX-Agents54.5%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
OSWorld 2.0Not measured4.6%Only Kimi K2.6 measured
Vending-Bench 2$6,378$6,205Claude Sonnet 5
Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index47
Reasoning benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
GPQA Diamond88.9%89.1%Kimi K2.6
LiveBench reasoning88.7%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
MMMU Pro (Vals AI)83.0%86.3%Kimi K2.6
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)91.1%91.1%Tie
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)41.3%37.5%Claude Sonnet 5
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)90.5%90.8%Kimi K2.6
SimpleBench60.6%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
Chess puzzles45.0%20.0%Claude Sonnet 5
Mystery game puzzles35.0%18.0%Claude Sonnet 5
EBR-benchNot measured2.4%Only Kimi K2.6 measured
LMArena Text: hard prompts14611470Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: expert14891491Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14641471Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: diagrams12931298Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: homework13111310Claude Sonnet 5
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index42
Math benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
OTIS Mock AIME94.7%96.1%Kimi K2.6
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 365.6%57.2%Claude Sonnet 5
FrontierMath, tier 429.3%25.6%Claude Sonnet 5
ProofBench77.0%16.0%Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: math14671474Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: mathematical work14811480Claude Sonnet 5
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index47
Knowledge benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
MMLU Pro87.5%87.6%Kimi K2.6
LegalBench (Vals AI)83.9%84.7%Kimi K2.6
CaseLaw (Vals AI)Not measured61.2%Only Kimi K2.6 measured
CorpFin (Vals AI)67.0%66.7%Claude Sonnet 5
TaxEval (Vals AI)75.6%74.7%Claude Sonnet 5
MortgageTax (Vals AI)70.0%65.8%Claude Sonnet 5
MedCode (Vals AI)47.5%40.1%Claude Sonnet 5
SimpleQA Verified33.7%34.9%Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: science14601468Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14421457Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: legal and government14541462Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: business and finance14361445Kimi K2.6
Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index71
Web design benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
Design Arena: websites12741269Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: UI components12801266Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: game dev12781251Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: data viz12511249Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: 3D12611268Kimi K2.6
Design Arena: all code categories12761272Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: SVG11931181Claude Sonnet 5
Design Arena: ASCII art12071165Claude Sonnet 5
LiveBench design82.0%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index823
General benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
LiveBench data analysis71.7%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)66.0%56.6%Claude Sonnet 5
SAGE (Vals AI)48.9%50.2%Kimi K2.6
MedScribe (Vals AI)76.0%78.2%Kimi K2.6
Vals Multimodal Index68.8%56.4%Claude Sonnet 5
IFBenchNot measured76.0%Only Kimi K2.6 measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)82.0%81.0%Claude Sonnet 5
DTBench92.5%90.9%Claude Sonnet 5
LMCA50.0%37.3%Claude Sonnet 5
Surface Evolver Bench60.0%Not measuredOnly Claude Sonnet 5 measured
Furniture assemblyNot measured21.7%Only Kimi K2.6 measured
ExploitBenchNot measured18.4%Only Kimi K2.6 measured
LMArena Text14421455Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: instruction following14521451Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: creative writing14161434Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision12731282Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: English14501460Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: non-English14311446Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Chinese14781520Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: German14421451Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Japanese14221443Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Korean14121427Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: French14631471Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Spanish14381464Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: Russian14501446Claude Sonnet 5
LMArena Text: Polish14251438Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: multi-turn14531453Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: longer queries14621468Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: writing and language14361439Kimi K2.6
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14111428Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: English12751287Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: Chinese13311346Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: reading text12881291Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: humor12611280Kimi K2.6
LMArena Vision: creative writing12461273Kimi K2.6
LMArena Document14661451Claude Sonnet 5
Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
BenchmarkClaude Sonnet 5Kimi K2.6Leader
Neither model has a result on 5 boards here

What each workload costs

Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.

Chat turn

1K input + 500 output tokens

Claude Sonnet 5$0.0070Fits in one request
Kimi K2.6$0.0029Fits in one request

Kimi K2.6 costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

Claude Sonnet 5$0.130Fits in one request
Kimi K2.6$0.059Fits in one request

Kimi K2.6 costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

Claude Sonnet 5$0.500Fits in one request
Kimi K2.6$0.230Fits in one request

Kimi K2.6 costs less

Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.

Specification differences

The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.

Specifications of Claude Sonnet 5 and Kimi K2.6
SpecificationAnthropic Claude Sonnet 5MoonshotAI Kimi K2.6
MakerAnthropicMoonshot AI
WeightsNo public weights listedOpen weights
ReleasedJune 30, 2026April 20, 2026
Context window1M262K
Input $/Mtok$2.00$0.95
Output $/Mtok$10.00$4.00
Coding index57.752.1
Independent measurements behind it63
Cost per solved task$1.87$0.35
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is Claude Sonnet 5 better than Kimi K2.6 for coding?

Pick Claude Sonnet 5 for coding: it scores 57.7 on the Vibe Coding Index against 52.1 for Kimi K2.6. Pick Kimi K2.6 for output tokens 2.5x cheaper ($4.00 vs $10.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.35 against $1.87).

Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K2.6?

Claude Sonnet 5 costs $2.00 per million input tokens and $10.00 per million output tokens; Kimi K2.6 costs $0.95 and $4.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Claude Sonnet 5 costs $1.87 and Kimi K2.6 $0.35.

Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or Kimi K2.6?

Claude Sonnet 5, with 1M tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks is the Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K2.6 comparison based on?

101 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Claude Sonnet 5's coding index rests on 6 independent benchmarks and Kimi K2.6's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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