Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) by Kimi or Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) scores 11.4 points higher (27.0 vs 15.6) but costs 2.1× as much to run the benchmark ($1409 vs $661; both premium class). Pick Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning).
| Metric | Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) | Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 27.0 | 15.6 | −42.2% Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Re… is 42.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,408.86 | $661.29 | −53.1% Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Re… is 53.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 52.97s | 21.37s | −59.7% Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Re… is 59.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.95 / $4.00 | $0.40 / $3.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video | Text, Image |
Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) vs Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning): 42.2% less intelligence, 53.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 59.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Qwen3.5 122B A10B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (High) scores 50.20 for $521.
Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning)Qwen3.5 122B A10B (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/kimi-k2-6/qwen3-5-122b-a10b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k2-6/qwen3-5-122b-a10b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill