Kimi K2 Thinking vs Nemotron 3 Ultra
Nemotron 3 Ultra leads Kimi K2 Thinking on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 22.9 to 22.0, at about the same output price ($2.40 vs $2.50 per million). Updated October 23, 2026; 17 benchmarks have a result for both.
Kimi K2 Thinking or Nemotron 3 Ultra: which to pick
Only Nemotron 3 Ultra has a coding score, 30.0 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 τ²-Bench Telecom, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 17
- Kimi K2 Thinking only
- 17
- Nemotron 3 Ultra only
- 54
- Like-for-like categories
- 7 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 Nemotron 3 Ultra has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Nemotron 3 Ultra leads, 22.9 against 22.0.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Nemotron 3 Ultra has a AA Agentic Index result, 20.1.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Nemotron 3 Ultra leads, 86.1% 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
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Nemotron 3 Ultra leads, 85.8% against 81.1%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Nemotron 3 Ultra leads, 1145 against 1113.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
No call
Both take 262K tokens.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Nemotron 3 Ultra
Kimi K2 Thinking $0.0019, Nemotron 3 Ultra $0.0018 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 not benchmarked, Nemotron 3 Ultra 30.0 from 3 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- General, 10.3 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LiveCodeBench (Vals AI): Kimi K2 Thinking 63.1% against Nemotron 3 Ultra 86.0%, 22.8 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Kimi K2 Thinking $2.50 against Nemotron 3 Ultra $2.40 per million output tokens, 1.0x apart.
- Context window
- Both take 262K tokens.
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 Ultra | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 4 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 1 | 0 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 0 | 2 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 16 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index04
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 63.4% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 49.3 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 63.1% | 86.0% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 60.2% | 69.0% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 7.6% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 4.9% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.9% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 85.3% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 40.3% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | 31.1% | 36.4% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Terminal-Bench | 35.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| FrontierCode | Not measured | 13.6% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| WeirdML | 42.8% | 43.5% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| ALE-Bench | 597.5 | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1467 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1468 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 22.0 | 22.9 | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.8 | 146.0 | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index10
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 20.1 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 37.7% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 15.4% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 31.7% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 93.0% | 83.3% | Kimi K2 Thinking |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 22.7% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| METR time horizons | 59.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MCP Atlas | Not measured | 63.1% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 78.5% | 86.1% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.8% | 86.7% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.8% | 28.4% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 85.4% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 20.0% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1452 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1472 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1453 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3 Ultra | 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 |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 86.7% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 2.0% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1457 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1462 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| MathArena | 15.9% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 81.1% | 85.8% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 80.2% | 82.1% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 65.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 60.6% | 65.5% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.7% | 73.1% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 92.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 38.6% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 84.8% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1465 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1455 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1453 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1435 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| PRBench Finance | 43.4% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| PRBench Legal | 40.9% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking 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 | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1113 | 1145 | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1135 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1138 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1142 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1132 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1146 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 1069 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1100 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3 Ultra | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | 68.1% | 81.4% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 72.0% | 79.3% | Nemotron 3 Ultra |
| DTBench | Not measured | 90.1% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 36.9% | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| CL-bench | 17.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1445 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1418 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1398 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1454 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1427 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1498 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1474 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1385 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1473 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1454 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1417 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1385 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1411 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1437 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1405 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1397 | Only Nemotron 3 Ultra measured |
| MultiChallenge | 55.4% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 26 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Nemotron 3 Ultra | 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 Ultra costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Nemotron 3 Ultra costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Nemotron 3 Ultra 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 Ultra |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Moonshot AI | NVIDIA |
| Weights | Open weights | Open weights |
| Released | November 6, 2025 | June 4, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 262K |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.60 | $0.60 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $2.40 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 30.0 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 3 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.61 | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Kimi K2 Thinking better than Nemotron 3 Ultra for coding?
Only Nemotron 3 Ultra has a coding score, 30.0 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 τ²-Bench Telecom, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Thinking or Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Nemotron 3 Ultra costs $0.60 and $2.40. Cost per solved task is known for Kimi K2 Thinking only.
Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K2 Thinking or Nemotron 3 Ultra?
Neither: both take 262K tokens.
How many benchmarks is the Kimi K2 Thinking vs Nemotron 3 Ultra comparison based on?
17 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 23, 2026. Kimi K2 Thinking's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Nemotron 3 Ultra's on 3. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.