Kimi K2 Thinking vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Updated October 21, 2026. 4 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Kimi K2 Thinking scores 63.4 and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 65.5 on the Vibe Coding Index, but no coding benchmark measured both, so the gap is directional, not a ranking.
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking when the benchmark that matters is Long context reasoning (AA-LCR), where it leads; pick Nemotron 3.5 Super VL when output tokens cost 5.0x less, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens.
- Shared results
- 4
- Kimi K2 Thinking only
- 26
- Nemotron 3.5 Super VL only
- 12
- Like-for-like categories
- 4 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
No call
63.4 against 65.5, from different benchmarks with none in common.
Directional only
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL leads, 26.5 against 22.0.
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
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL leads, 1171 against 1113.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL takes 1.05M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL
Kimi K2 Thinking $0.0019, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL $0.0004 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
- Kimi K2 Thinking 63.4 from 1 benchmark, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 65.5 from 1 benchmark.
- Widest category
- Web design, 7.3 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- Design Arena: websites: Kimi K2 Thinking 1113 against Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 1171, 7.3 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Kimi K2 Thinking $2.50 against Nemotron 3.5 Super VL $0.50 per million output tokens, 5.0x apart.
- Context window
- Kimi K2 Thinking takes 262K tokens, Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 1.05M.
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 | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | 0 | 1 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 1 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 1 | 0 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 3 |
CodingDirectional onlyFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index10 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 63.4% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 65.5% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 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% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 47.8% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 31.1% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Terminal-Bench | 35.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| WeirdML | 42.8% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| ALE-Bench | 597.5 | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 28 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 22.0 | 26.5 | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.8 | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 70.9% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 4.0% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 15.8% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 93.0% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| METR time horizons | 59.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 78.5% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 78.8% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.8% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.8% | 30.7% | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index4 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | 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 | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | 94.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 9 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index7 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | 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% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 10 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1113 | 1171 | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1148 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1108 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1132 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1155 | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 60.7% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 64.6% | Only Nemotron 3.5 Super VL measured |
| IFBench | 68.1% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 72.0% | 69.0% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| CL-bench | 17.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 42 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3.5 Super VL | 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
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 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 | NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Super VL |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Moonshot AI | NVIDIA |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | November 6, 2025 | October 15, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 1.05M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.60 | $0.15 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $0.50 |
| Coding index | 63.4 | 65.5 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 1 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.61 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Kimi K2 Thinking better than Nemotron 3.5 Super VL for coding?
Kimi K2 Thinking scores 63.4 and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL 65.5 on the Vibe Coding Index, but no coding benchmark measured both, so the gap is directional, not a ranking. Pick Kimi K2 Thinking when the benchmark that matters is Long context reasoning (AA-LCR), where it leads; pick Nemotron 3.5 Super VL when output tokens cost 5.0x less, or when the context window is larger, 1.05M against 262K tokens.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Thinking or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL?
Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Nemotron 3.5 Super VL costs $0.15 and $0.50. Cost per solved task is known for Kimi K2 Thinking only.
Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K2 Thinking or Nemotron 3.5 Super VL?
Nemotron 3.5 Super VL, with 1.05M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Kimi K2 Thinking vs Nemotron 3.5 Super VL comparison based on?
4 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Kimi K2 Thinking's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Nemotron 3.5 Super VL's on 1. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.