Kimi K2 Thinking vs Llama 4 Maverick
Kimi K2 Thinking leads Llama 4 Maverick on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 22.0 to 9.3, and Llama 4 Maverick costs 2.5x less per output token ($1.00 vs $2.50 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 25 benchmarks have a result for both.
Kimi K2 Thinking or Llama 4 Maverick: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for a lower cost per solved task ($0.61 against $1.491) and work measured by MGSM (Vals AI), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 25
- Kimi K2 Thinking only
- 5
- Llama 4 Maverick only
- 60
- 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.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking leads, 22.0 against 9.3.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Llama 4 Maverick has a AA Agentic Index result, 0.6.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking leads, 78.5% against 69.4%.
Same board, both measured
Math
AIME
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking leads, 85.4% against 25.2%.
Same board, both measured
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking leads, 81.1% against 79.4%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking leads, 1113 against 871.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Llama 4 Maverick
Llama 4 Maverick takes 524K tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Llama 4 Maverick
Kimi K2 Thinking $0.0019, Llama 4 Maverick $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking $0.61, Llama 4 Maverick $1.491.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Kimi K2 Thinking not benchmarked, Llama 4 Maverick not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Agentic work, 75.1 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- AA Math Index: Kimi K2 Thinking 94.7 against Llama 4 Maverick 19.3, 75.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Kimi K2 Thinking $2.50 against Llama 4 Maverick $1.00 per million output tokens, 2.5x apart.
- Context window
- Kimi K2 Thinking takes 262K tokens, Llama 4 Maverick 524K.
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 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Bars | Llama 4 Maverick | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 6 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 2 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 3 | 0 | ||
| Math | 3 | 1 | ||
| Knowledge | 6 | 0 | ||
| Web design | 1 | 0 | ||
| General | 2 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 24 | 1 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index60
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aider polyglot | Not measured | 15.6% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| SWE-bench Verified | 63.4% | 21.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 16.3 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 63.1% | 47.3% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 60.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 85.3% | 39.7% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| SciCode | Not measured | 31.7% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 31.1% | 6.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Terminal-Bench | 35.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| WeirdML | 42.8% | 24.5% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| ALE-Bench | 597.5 | 173.0 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1301 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1299 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 22.0 | 9.3 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.8 | 132.2 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 0.6 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 93.0% | 17.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| METR time horizons | 59.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 38 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index30
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 78.5% | 69.4% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 71.7% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.8% | 67.1% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.8% | 4.9% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| ARC-AGI | Not measured | 4.4% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| SimpleBench | Not measured | 27.7% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1281 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1259 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1295 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1134 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1164 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | Not measured | 55.9% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index31
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 85.4% | 25.2% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| MATH 500 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.2% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 90.2% | 92.4% | Llama 4 Maverick |
| AA Math Index | 94.7 | 19.3 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 94.7% | 19.3% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1299 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1295 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 81.1% | 79.4% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 80.2% | 77.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 65.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 60.6% | 49.7% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.7% | 66.6% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 58.5% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 92.6% | 43.3% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 36.5% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 84.8% | 80.9% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| GeoBench | Not measured | 52.0% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1288 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1275 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1286 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1260 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1113 | 871 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 899 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 838 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 882 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 901 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 880 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 35.7% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 54.2% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| IFBench | 68.1% | 43.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 72.0% | 50.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| DTBench | Not measured | 61.9% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 15.9% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Fiction.LiveBench | Not measured | 46.2% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| Creative writing (Lech Mazur) | Not measured | 62.0% | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| CL-bench | 17.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1287 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1267 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1266 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1142 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1303 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1269 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1277 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1291 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1206 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1203 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1259 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1293 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1286 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1275 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1289 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1280 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1277 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1250 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1150 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1141 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1143 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1100 | Only Llama 4 Maverick measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1099 | Only Llama 4 Maverick 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 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Llama 4 Maverick | 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
Llama 4 Maverick costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Llama 4 Maverick costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Llama 4 Maverick 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 | MoonshotAI Kimi K2 Thinking | Meta Llama 4 Maverick |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Moonshot AI | Meta Llama |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | November 6, 2025 | April 5, 2025 |
| Context window | 262K | 524K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.60 | $0.35 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $1.00 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.61 | $1.491 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Kimi K2 Thinking better than Llama 4 Maverick for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for a lower cost per solved task ($0.61 against $1.491) and work measured by MGSM (Vals AI), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Thinking or Llama 4 Maverick?
Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Llama 4 Maverick costs $0.35 and $1.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.61 and Llama 4 Maverick $1.491.
Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K2 Thinking or Llama 4 Maverick?
Llama 4 Maverick, with 524K tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Kimi K2 Thinking vs Llama 4 Maverick comparison based on?
25 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Kimi K2 Thinking's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Llama 4 Maverick's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.