DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 vs Kimi K2 Thinking
Updated October 21, 2026. 5 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for coding: it scores 63.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 54.6 for DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423.
Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 when output tokens cost 13.7x less, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens.
- Shared results
- 5
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 only
- 43
- Kimi K2 Thinking only
- 25
- Like-for-like categories
- 3 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
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking scores 63.4 against 54.6.
One benchmark behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 leads, 24.4 against 22.0.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 has a AA Agentic Index result, 26.3.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
No call
Only Kimi K2 Thinking has a GPQA Diamond result, 78.5%.
Directional only
Math
AIME
No call
Only Kimi K2 Thinking has a AIME result, 85.4%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
No call
Only Kimi K2 Thinking has a MMLU Pro result, 81.1%.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 leads, 1208 against 1113.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 takes 1.05M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 $0.0002, Kimi K2 Thinking $0.0019 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
No call
Only Kimi K2 Thinking has the number, $0.61.
Directional only
At a glance
- Coding index
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 54.6 from 1 benchmark, Kimi K2 Thinking 63.4 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Web design, 11.9 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: websites: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 1208 against Kimi K2 Thinking 1113, 11.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 $0.182 against Kimi K2 Thinking $2.50 per million output tokens, 13.7x apart.
- Context window
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 takes 1.05M tokens, Kimi K2 Thinking 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 V4 Flash 0423 | Bars | Kimi K2 Thinking | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 2 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 2 | 0 | ||
| Web design | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 5 | 0 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index20
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | Not measured | 63.4% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1582 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| AA Coding Index | 52.0 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 63.1% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | Not measured | 60.2% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 85.3% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 31.1% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Terminal-Bench | Not measured | 35.7% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| WeirdML | 45.6% | 42.8% | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 |
| ALE-Bench | 678.2 | 597.5 | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1457 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1453 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1585 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1558 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 24.4 | 22.0 | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 146.1 | 145.8 | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index3 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 26.3 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 93.0% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| METR time horizons | Not measured | 59.2% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 78.5% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 83.8% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 23.8% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| SimpleBench | 46.3% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1444 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1441 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1449 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index6 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | Not measured | 85.4% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | Not measured | 90.2% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 94.7 | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 94.7% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1426 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1432 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | Not measured | 81.1% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 80.2% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.7% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 60.6% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | Not measured | 71.7% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | Not measured | 92.6% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 84.8% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1446 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1448 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1439 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1425 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1208 | 1113 | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1164 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1197 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1127 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1189 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1205 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1155 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1109 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index22 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | Not measured | 68.1% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 72.0% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| DTBench | 86.4% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMCA | 35.9% | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| CL-bench | Not measured | 17.6% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text | 1432 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1421 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1403 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1441 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1419 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1463 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1419 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1389 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1383 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1439 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1436 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1427 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1436 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1449 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1434 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1410 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1400 | Not measured | Only DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 24 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | Kimi K2 Thinking | 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 V4 Flash 0423 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 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 V4 Flash 0423 | MoonshotAI Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | DeepSeek | Moonshot AI |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | April 24, 2026 | November 6, 2025 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.091 | $0.60 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.182 | $2.50 |
| Coding index | 54.6 | 63.4 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | $0.61 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 better than Kimi K2 Thinking for coding?
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for coding: it scores 63.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 54.6 for DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423. Pick DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 when output tokens cost 13.7x less, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 or Kimi K2 Thinking?
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 costs $0.091 per million input tokens and $0.182 per million output tokens; Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 and $2.50. Cost per solved task is known for Kimi K2 Thinking only.
Which has the bigger context window, DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 or Kimi K2 Thinking?
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 vs Kimi K2 Thinking comparison based on?
5 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Kimi K2 Thinking's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.