DeepSeek V3 vs Kimi K2.6
Updated October 21, 2026. 11 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
DeepSeek V3 scores 70.2 and Kimi K2.6 44.2 on the Vibe Coding Index, but no coding benchmark measured both, so the gap is directional, not a ranking.
Pick DeepSeek V3 when output tokens cost 3.3x less; pick Kimi K2.6 when the context window is larger, 262K against 164K tokens, or when what matters is GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) or OTIS Mock AIME, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 11
- DeepSeek V3 only
- 2
- Kimi K2.6 only
- 98
- Like-for-like categories
- 4 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
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.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, four public coding benchmarks
No call
70.2 against 44.2, from different benchmarks with none in common.
Directional only
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Only Kimi K2.6 has a AA Intelligence Index result, 27.0.
Directional only
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Kimi K2.6 has a AA Agentic Index result, 20.5.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Kimi K2.6 has a GPQA Diamond result, 89.1%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Kimi K2.6 has a MMLU Pro result, 87.6%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Kimi K2.6
Kimi K2.6 leads, 1269 against 1120.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Kimi K2.6
Kimi K2.6 takes 262K tokens against 164K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V3
DeepSeek V3 $0.0008, Kimi K2.6 $0.0024 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Kimi K2.6 has the number, $0.35.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- DeepSeek V3 70.2 from 1 benchmark, Kimi K2.6 44.2 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Math, 47.2 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- OTIS Mock AIME: DeepSeek V3 48.9% against Kimi K2.6 96.1%, 47.2 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V3 $1.0287 against Kimi K2.6 $3.41 per million output tokens, 3.3x apart.
- Context window
- DeepSeek V3 takes 164K 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.
| Category | DeepSeek V3 | Bars | Kimi K2.6 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 0 | 1 | ||
| Math | 0 | 1 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 7 | ||
| General | 0 | 2 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 11 |
CodingDirectional onlyFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index19 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aider polyglot | 70.2% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| SWE-bench Lite | 30.7% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V3 measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1509 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 61.8 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 86.8% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 76.2% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.9% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 27.8% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 53.6% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 51.5% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 43.9% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 55.9% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 1092.7 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1489 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1484 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1505 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1485 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1521 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | Not measured | 27.0 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 150.9 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index17 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 20.5 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | Not measured | 1268 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | Not measured | 1155 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | Not measured | 1156 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1166 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | Not measured | 1120 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: agents building games | Not measured | 1141 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: HTML slides | Not measured | 1184 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1128 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | Not measured | 1276 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 44.9% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 12.4% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 15.9% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 57.9% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 95.9% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| OSWorld 2.0 | Not measured | 4.6% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | Not measured | $6,205 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 22 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 89.1% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 86.3% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 91.1% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 37.5% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 71.2% | 90.8% | Kimi K2.6 |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 20.0% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 18.0% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| EBR-bench | Not measured | 2.4% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1470 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1491 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1471 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1298 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1310 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 48.9% | 96.1% | Kimi K2.6 |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 57.2% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 25.6% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 16.0% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1474 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1480 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index12 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 87.6% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 84.7% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 61.2% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 66.7% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 74.7% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.8% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.1% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 34.9% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1468 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1457 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1462 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1445 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index07
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1120 | 1269 | Kimi K2.6 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1093 | 1266 | Kimi K2.6 |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1054 | 1251 | Kimi K2.6 |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1089 | 1249 | Kimi K2.6 |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1087 | 1268 | Kimi K2.6 |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1108 | 1272 | Kimi K2.6 |
| Design Arena: SVG | 976 | 1181 | Kimi K2.6 |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1164 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 56.6% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.2% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 78.2% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 56.4% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 76.0% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 81.0% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| DTBench | 62.7% | 90.9% | Kimi K2.6 |
| LMCA | 15.2% | 37.3% | Kimi K2.6 |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 21.7% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| ExploitBench | Not measured | 18.4% | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1455 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1451 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1434 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1282 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1460 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1446 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1520 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1451 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1443 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1427 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1471 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1464 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1446 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1438 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1453 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1468 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1439 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1428 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1287 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1346 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1291 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1280 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1273 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| LMArena Document | Not measured | 1451 | Only Kimi K2.6 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V3 | Kimi K2.6 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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
DeepSeek V3 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
DeepSeek V3 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
DeepSeek V3 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.
| Specification | DeepSeek V3 | MoonshotAI Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | Moonshot AI |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | December 26, 2024 | April 20, 2026 |
| Context window | 164K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.2574 | $0.65 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.0287 | $3.41 |
| Coding index | 70.2 | 44.2 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.35 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V3 better than Kimi K2.6 for coding?
DeepSeek V3 scores 70.2 and Kimi K2.6 44.2 on the Vibe Coding Index, but no coding benchmark measured both, so the gap is directional, not a ranking. Pick DeepSeek V3 when output tokens cost 3.3x less; pick Kimi K2.6 when the context window is larger, 262K against 164K tokens, or when what matters is GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) or OTIS Mock AIME, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V3 or Kimi K2.6?
DeepSeek V3 costs $0.2574 per million input tokens and $1.0287 per million output tokens; Kimi K2.6 costs $0.65 and $3.41. Cost per solved task is known for Kimi K2.6 only.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V3 or Kimi K2.6?
Kimi K2.6, with 262K tokens against 164K.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V3 vs Kimi K2.6 comparison based on?
11 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. DeepSeek V3's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Kimi K2.6's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.