Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) vs Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) by SpaceXAI or Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) by Kimi? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) scores 13.0 points higher (27.0 vs 14.0) but costs 6.1× as much to run the benchmark ($1528 vs $250; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) when you need intelligence above 14.0, and Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) when 14.0 is enough.
| Metric | Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) | Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 14.0 | 27.0 | +92.9% Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) is 92.9% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $250.37 | $1,528.20 | +510.4% Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) is 6.1× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.31s | 54.37s | +761.6% Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) is 761.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.25 / $2.50 | $0.95 / $4.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image, Video |
Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) vs Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning): 92.9% more intelligence, 510.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 761.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/grok-4-3-non-reasoning/kimi-k2-6 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/grok-4-3-non-reasoning/kimi-k2-6?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill