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 2026-09-22.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Kimi K2.6 scores 17.8 points higher (27.0 vs 9.2) but costs 3.2× as much to run the benchmark ($1528 vs $476; premium vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Kimi K2.6 when you need intelligence above 9.2, and Qwen3 Coder Next when 9.2 is enough.
| Metric | Kimi K2.6 | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 27.0 | 9.2 | −65.9% Qwen3 Coder Next is 65.9% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,528.20 | $476.23 | −68.8% Qwen3 Coder Next is 68.8% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 144.36s | 6.95s | −95.2% Qwen3 Coder Next is 95.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.95 / $4.00 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Video | Text |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs Kimi K2.6: 65.9% less intelligence, 68.8% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 95.2% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Kimi K2.6 is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
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