Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking
Updated October 21, 2026. 15 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 28.7 for Gemini 2.5 Flash.
Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash when a solved task costs $0.466 against $0.61, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens.
- Shared results
- 15
- Gemini 2.5 Flash only
- 54
- Kimi K2 Thinking only
- 15
- Like-for-like categories
- 8 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 28.7.
One benchmark behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking leads, 22.0 against 15.5.
Same board, both measured
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
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking leads, 1113 against 1074.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash $0.0015, Kimi K2 Thinking $0.0019 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Gemini 2.5 Flash
Gemini 2.5 Flash $0.466, Kimi K2 Thinking $0.61.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 2.5 Flash 28.7 from 1 benchmark, Kimi K2 Thinking 63.4 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 61.4 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- τ²-Bench Telecom: Gemini 2.5 Flash 31.6% against Kimi K2 Thinking 93.0%, 61.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Both cost $2.50 per million output tokens.
- Context window
- Gemini 2.5 Flash 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 | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Bars | Kimi K2 Thinking | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 4 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 2 | ||
| Math | 0 | 2 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 1 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 0 | 2 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 15 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index04
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 28.7% | 63.4% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| 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) | 69.5% | 85.3% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 13.6% | 31.1% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Terminal-Bench | 17.1% | 35.7% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 42.8% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| ALE-Bench | Not measured | 597.5 | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1423 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1425 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 28 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 15.5 | 22.0 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 142.9 | 145.8 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 31.6% | 93.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| METR time horizons | Not measured | 59.2% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| BALROG | 33.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | $549 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 35 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | Not measured | 78.5% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 79.0% | 83.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 12.1% | 23.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| ARC-AGI | 33.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 2.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| SimpleBench | 41.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1422 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1426 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1420 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1245 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1244 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | 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 | 73.3 | 94.7 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 73.3% | 94.7% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LMArena Text: math | 1411 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1422 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | 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 |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 40.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.2% | 84.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LMArena Text: science | 1433 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1428 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1430 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1404 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1074 | 1113 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1005 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1005 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1060 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1021 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1059 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1018 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 44.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 83.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| IFBench | 50.3% | 68.1% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 65.3% | 72.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| DTBench | 76.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMCA | 27.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| CL-bench | Not measured | 17.6% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text | 1417 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1405 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1400 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision | 1235 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1418 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1409 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1449 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1417 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1396 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1385 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1432 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1422 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1415 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1413 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1408 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1419 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1405 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1393 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1239 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1284 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1237 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1225 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: captioning | 1277 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: recognizing things | 1252 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1241 | Not measured | Only Gemini 2.5 Flash measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Flash | 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
Gemini 2.5 Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 2.5 Flash 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 | Google Gemini 2.5 Flash | MoonshotAI Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Moonshot AI | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | June 17, 2025 | November 6, 2025 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.60 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $2.50 |
| Coding index | 28.7 | 63.4 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.466 | $0.61 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 2.5 Flash better than Kimi K2 Thinking for coding?
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for coding: it scores 63.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 28.7 for Gemini 2.5 Flash. Pick Gemini 2.5 Flash when a solved task costs $0.466 against $0.61, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash or Kimi K2 Thinking?
Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 and $2.50. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $0.466 and Kimi K2 Thinking $0.61.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 2.5 Flash or Kimi K2 Thinking?
Gemini 2.5 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 2.5 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking comparison based on?
15 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Gemini 2.5 Flash'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.