Kimi K2 Thinking vs MiniMax M2
Updated October 21, 2026. 14 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 45.3 for MiniMax M2, though on 1 benchmark against 2.
Pick MiniMax M2 when output tokens cost 2.5x less, or when what matters is Design Arena: websites or IFBench, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 14
- Kimi K2 Thinking only
- 16
- MiniMax M2 only
- 35
- 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 45.3.
1 and 2 benchmarks behind the scores
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking leads, 22.0 against 18.6.
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
MiniMax M2
MiniMax M2 leads, 1144 against 1113.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking takes 262K tokens against 205K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
MiniMax M2
Kimi K2 Thinking $0.0019, MiniMax M2 $0.0008 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking $0.61, MiniMax M2 $0.702.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Kimi K2 Thinking 63.4 from 1 benchmark, MiniMax M2 45.3 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Math, 16.4 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- AA Math Index: Kimi K2 Thinking 94.7 against MiniMax M2 78.3, 16.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Kimi K2 Thinking $2.50 against MiniMax M2 $1.02 per million output tokens, 2.5x apart.
- Context window
- Kimi K2 Thinking takes 262K tokens, MiniMax M2 205K.
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 | MiniMax M2 | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 4 | 0 | ||
| Intelligence | 1 | 0 | ||
| Agentic work | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 2 | 0 | ||
| Math | 2 | 0 | ||
| Knowledge | 1 | 0 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 1 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 12 | 2 |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index40
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 63.4% | 61.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1297 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 63.1% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 60.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 85.3% | 82.6% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 31.1% | 25.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Terminal-Bench | 35.7% | 30.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| WeirdML | 42.8% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| ALE-Bench | 597.5 | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1371 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1373 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1306 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 22.0 | 18.6 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.8 | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 93.0% | 86.8% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| METR time horizons | 59.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Vending-Bench 2 | Not measured | $161 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 36 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 78.5% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.8% | 77.7% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.8% | 13.7% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1357 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1338 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1376 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIME | 85.4% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MGSM (Vals AI) | 90.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| AA Math Index | 94.7 | 78.3 | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 94.7% | 78.3% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1351 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1368 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 81.1% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 80.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 65.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 60.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 92.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 84.8% | 82.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1348 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1367 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1349 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1336 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1113 | 1144 | MiniMax M2 |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1136 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1119 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1140 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1098 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1135 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 1098 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 2 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 68.1% | 72.3% | MiniMax M2 |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 72.0% | 64.3% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| CL-bench | 17.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1340 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1329 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1286 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1364 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1313 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1366 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1357 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1336 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1326 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1330 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1312 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1361 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1331 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1295 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1298 | Only MiniMax M2 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 28 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | MiniMax M2 | 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
MiniMax M2 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
MiniMax M2 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
MiniMax M2 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 | MiniMax M2 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Moonshot AI | MiniMax |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | November 6, 2025 | October 23, 2025 |
| Context window | 262K | 205K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.60 | $0.255 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $1.02 |
| Coding index | 63.4 | 45.3 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.61 | $0.702 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Kimi K2 Thinking better than MiniMax M2 for coding?
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for coding: it scores 63.4 on the Vibe Coding Index against 45.3 for MiniMax M2, though on 1 benchmark against 2. Pick MiniMax M2 when output tokens cost 2.5x less, or when what matters is Design Arena: websites or IFBench, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Thinking or MiniMax M2?
Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; MiniMax M2 costs $0.255 and $1.02. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.61 and MiniMax M2 $0.702.
Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K2 Thinking or MiniMax M2?
Kimi K2 Thinking, with 262K tokens against 205K.
How many benchmarks is the Kimi K2 Thinking vs MiniMax M2 comparison based on?
14 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Kimi K2 Thinking's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and MiniMax M2's on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.