Kimi K2 Thinking vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads Kimi K2 Thinking on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, 45.4 to 22.0, and Kimi K2 Thinking costs 2.4x less per output token ($2.50 vs $6.00 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 13 benchmarks have a result for both.
vs boards won of 13 shared
Kimi K2 Thinking or Qwen3.8 Max (0902): which to pick
Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has a coding score, 62.4 on the Vibe Coding Index; Kimi K2 Thinking has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for output tokens 2.4x cheaper ($2.50 vs $6.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.61 against $1.32).
Model AKimi K2 ThinkingMoonshot AINot benchmarked1 independent benchmark$0.61 per solved taskModel BQwen3.8 Max (0902)Qwen62.4/1005 independent benchmarks$1.32 per solved task
- Shared results
- 13
- Kimi K2 Thinking only
- 17
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) only
- 100
- Like-for-like categories
- 6 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 Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has a coding score, so no call is made.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 45.4 against 22.0.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
No call
Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has a AA Agentic Index result, 56.0.
Directional only
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 93.7% 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
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 88.6% against 81.1%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 1275 against 1113.
Same board, both measured
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) takes 1M tokens against 262K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking $0.0019, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $0.0050 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking $0.61, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $1.32.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- Kimi K2 Thinking not benchmarked, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 62.4 from 5 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Coding, 25.1 points apart on average over 2 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI): Kimi K2 Thinking 60.2% against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 85.6%, 25.4 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Kimi K2 Thinking $2.50 against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $6.00 per million output tokens, 2.4x apart.
- Context window
- Kimi K2 Thinking takes 262K tokens, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 1M.
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 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 2 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Reasoning | 0 | 3 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 4 | ||
| Web design | 0 | 1 | ||
| General | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 0 | 13 |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index02
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 63.4% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LiveBench coding | Not measured | 60.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev | Not measured | 1674 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| AA Coding Index | Not measured | 76.2 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 63.1% | 87.8% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 60.2% | 85.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 34.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.7% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | Not measured | 24.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| IOI (Vals AI) | Not measured | 68.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.4% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 42.5% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | Not measured | 12.8% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 42.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 28.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 85.3% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| SciCode | Not measured | 53.2% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 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 |
| FrontierSWE | Not measured | 17.8% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| 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 | 1502 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1498 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev: React | Not measured | 1692 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | Not measured | 1649 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | Not measured | 1637 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 11 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 22.0 | 45.4 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 145.8 | 157.4 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | Not measured | 56.0 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | Not measured | 1300 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | Not measured | 1305 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | Not measured | 1224 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1196 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | Not measured | 1234 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1233 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | Not measured | 967 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench research | Not measured | 69.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench browser | Not measured | 32.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench long agentic | Not measured | 42.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | Not measured | 50.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 32.1% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 47.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | Not measured | 60.1% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | Not measured | 12.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| τ²-Bench Telecom | 93.0% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| APEX-Agents | Not measured | 63.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| METR time horizons | 59.2% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| LMArena Search | Not measured | 1261 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 21 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index03
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 78.5% | 93.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LiveBench reasoning | Not measured | 88.2% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 23.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | Not measured | 88.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 83.8% | 92.8% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 23.8% | 43.1% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 92.7% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Chess puzzles | Not measured | 46.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Mystery game puzzles | Not measured | 38.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1496 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1507 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1503 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | Not measured | 1323 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: homework | Not measured | 1336 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 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 | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | 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 | 100.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | Not measured | 74.7% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | Not measured | 46.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| ProofBench | Not measured | 58.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1501 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1491 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 3 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index04
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 81.1% | 88.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 80.2% | 83.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| CaseLaw (Vals AI) | 65.7% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | 60.6% | 65.8% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 71.7% | 75.5% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MedQA (Vals AI) | 92.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.7% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 84.8% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 47.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1512 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1503 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1492 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1480 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1113 | 1275 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1338 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1312 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1281 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1336 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1293 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1200 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench design | Not measured | 78.6% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench data analysis | Not measured | 78.4% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.1% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 51.2% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | Not measured | 85.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 65.4% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| IFBench | 68.1% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 72.0% | 80.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| DTBench | Not measured | 92.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 46.2% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| CL-bench | 17.6% | Not measured | Only Kimi K2 Thinking measured |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 20.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1483 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1481 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1477 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision | Not measured | 1313 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1491 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1473 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1539 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1478 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1473 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1460 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1498 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1489 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1482 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1471 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1489 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1488 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1477 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1464 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: English | Not measured | 1311 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | Not measured | 1358 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | Not measured | 1322 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: humor | Not measured | 1304 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | Not measured | 1312 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Kimi K2 Thinking | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | 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
Kimi K2 Thinking$0.0019Fits in one request
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)$0.0050Fits in one request
Kimi K2 Thinking costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Kimi K2 Thinking$0.037Fits in one request
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)$0.118Fits in one request
Kimi K2 Thinking costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Kimi K2 Thinking$0.145Fits in one request
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)$0.460Fits in one request
Kimi K2 Thinking 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 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Moonshot AI | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | November 6, 2025 | September 3, 2026 |
| Context window | 262K | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.60 | $2.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $2.50 | $6.00 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | 62.4 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 1 | 5 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.61 | $1.32 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Kimi K2 Thinking better than Qwen3.8 Max (0902) for coding?
Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) has a coding score, 62.4 on the Vibe Coding Index; Kimi K2 Thinking has none, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for output tokens 2.4x cheaper ($2.50 vs $6.00 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.61 against $1.32).
Which is cheaper, Kimi K2 Thinking or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; Qwen3.8 Max (0902) costs $2.00 and $6.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.61 and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $1.32.
Which has the bigger context window, Kimi K2 Thinking or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
Qwen3.8 Max (0902), with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks is the Kimi K2 Thinking vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902) comparison based on?
13 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. Kimi K2 Thinking's coding index rests on 1 independent benchmark and Qwen3.8 Max (0902)'s on 5. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.