Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh)
Which is better for the money: Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) by Kimi or Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh)
Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) vs Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning): 24.8% more intelligence, 12.6% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 10.0% slower end-to-end.
| Metric | Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning) | Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 27.0 | 33.7 | +24.8% Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) is 24.8% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,528.20 | $1,336.09 | −12.6% Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) is 12.6% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 54.31s | 59.76s | +10.0% Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) is 10.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.95 / $4.00 | $0.50 / $3.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video | Text, Image, Video |
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.
- Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Kimi K2.6 (Reasoning)Qwen3.8 27B (Xhigh)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/qwen3-8-27b · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k2-6/qwen3-8-27b?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill