Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Which is better for the money: Kimi K2.6 by Kimi or Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-08-17.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K2.6 scores 23.8 points higher (45.1 vs 21.3) but costs 3.4× as much to run the benchmark ($841 vs $250; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K2.6 when you need intelligence above 21.3, and Qwen3 Coder Next when 21.3 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 45.1 | 21.3 | −52.8% Qwen3 Coder Next is 52.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $841.11 | $250.18 | −70.3% Qwen3 Coder Next is 70.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 108.54s | 4.63s | −95.7% Qwen3 Coder Next is 95.7% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.95 / $4.00 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs Kimi K2.6: 52.8% less intelligence, 70.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 95.7% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K2.6 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Muse Spark 1.2 (xhigh) scores 56.80 for $639.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-5.6 Luna (max) scores 52.30 for $172.
Kimi K2.6Qwen3 Coder NextToday'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-coder-next · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/kimi-k2-6/qwen3-coder-next?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill