Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Kimi K2 Thinking
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads Kimi K2 Thinking on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 22.2 to 22.0, at about the same output price ($2.50 vs $2.50 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 14 benchmarks have a result for both.
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Kimi K2 Thinking: which to pick
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; Kimi K2 Thinking has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for work measured by WeirdML or Epoch Capabilities Index, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 14
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite only
- 71
- Kimi K2 Thinking only
- 16
- Like-for-like categories
- 5 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.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads, 22.2 against 22.0.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a AA Agentic Index result, 14.3.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads, 83.8% against 78.5%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
No call
Only Kimi K2 Thinking has a AIME result, 85.4%.
Directional only
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite leads, 85.8% against 81.1%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Kimi K2 Thinking has a Design Arena: websites result, 1113.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite takes 1.05M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.0015, Kimi K2 Thinking $0.0019 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite $0.41, Kimi K2 Thinking $0.61.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 49.0 from 3 benchmarks, Kimi K2 Thinking not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Coding, 10.0 points apart on average over 4 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LiveCodeBench (Vals AI): Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 79.0% against Kimi K2 Thinking 63.1%, 15.9 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Both cost $2.50 per million output tokens.
- Context window
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 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 3.5 Flash Lite | Bars | Kimi K2 Thinking | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 3 | 1 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 1 | 1 tie | |
| Knowledge | 4 | 0 | ||
| General | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 10 | 3 | 1 tie |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index31
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | Not measured | 63.4% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena WebDev | 1435 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| AA Coding Index | 49.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 79.0% | 63.1% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 75.0% | 60.2% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 37.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 6.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 50.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 59.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 85.3% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| SciCode | 41.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 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 | 39.0% | 42.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| ALE-Bench | 765.3 | 597.5 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1453 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1451 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1408 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1448 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SciCode | 6.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 18 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 22.2 | 22.0 | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 144.9 | 145.8 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 14.3 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 47.4% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 7.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 13.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 43.2% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 93.0% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| APEX-Agents | 29.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| METR time horizons | Not measured | 59.2% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 33 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 83.8% | 78.5% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 83.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.8% | 83.8% | Tie |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 18.8% | 23.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 83.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ARC-AGI | 53.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 10.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Chess puzzles | 21.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | 19.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1441 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1434 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1440 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1284 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1291 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | 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 |
| OTIS Mock AIME | 71.1% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 26.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 0.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| ProofBench | 13.0% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: math | 1434 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1433 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index40
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 85.8% | 81.1% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 84.1% | 80.2% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.7% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 60.7% | 60.6% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 72.6% | 71.7% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | 68.7% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | Not measured | 92.6% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | 43.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 84.8% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1451 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1438 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1431 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1423 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| FACTS Benchmark Suite | 53.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1113 | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | Kimi K2 Thinking | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | 51.8% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | 47.3% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 70.9% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| IFBench | Not measured | 68.1% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 76.0% | 72.0% | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite |
| DTBench | 83.5% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMCA | 37.6% | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| CL-bench | Not measured | 17.6% | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text | 1435 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1419 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1421 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision | 1269 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: English | 1438 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1427 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1468 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: German | 1454 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1426 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1407 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: French | 1451 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1441 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1443 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1437 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1445 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1435 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1428 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1414 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1269 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1311 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1280 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1287 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1260 | Not measured | Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | 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 3.5 Flash Lite costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 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 3.5 Flash Lite | MoonshotAI Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Moonshot AI | |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | July 21, 2026 | November 6, 2025 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.30 | $0.60 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $2.50 |
| Coding index | 49.0 | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 3 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.41 | $0.61 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite better than Kimi K2 Thinking for coding?
Only Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite has a coding score, 49.0 on the Vibe Coding Index; Kimi K2 Thinking has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for work measured by WeirdML or Epoch Capabilities Index, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Kimi K2 Thinking?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite 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 3.5 Flash Lite costs $0.41 and Kimi K2 Thinking $0.61.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite or Kimi K2 Thinking?
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite vs Kimi K2 Thinking comparison based on?
14 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite's coding index rests on 3 independent benchmarks and Kimi K2 Thinking's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.