Compare / Qwen3.5-27B vs Kimi K2 (0711)

Qwen3.5-27B vs Kimi K2 (0711)

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 16 results on 3 sources that measured both models.

AlibabaQwen3.5-27B Released 24 Feb 2026 · $0.27 in · $2.16 out
Moonshot AIKimi K2 (0711) Released 12 Jul 2025 · $0.57 in · $2.30 out
Qwen3.5-27B wins 104 too close to callKimi K2 (0711) wins 2

Of the 16 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.

Results as of 9 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-09-dd620e778ac5). See also Alibaba vs Moonshot AI, every model from both labs.

Qwen3.5-27B or Kimi K2 (0711)? The short answer

Pick Qwen3.5-27B: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 22.9 against 12.7) and costs less.

  • Qwen3.5-27B is cheaper: $0.74 against $1.00 per million tokens, 26% less.
  • Qwen3.5-27B scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 22.9 against 12.7.
  • Qwen3.5-27B is newer: released 24 Feb 2026, against 12 Jul 2025 for Kimi K2 (0711).
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Qwen3.5-27B does better for reasoning and knowledge; Kimi K2 (0711) for writing.

Head to head

22.9
Intelligence Index
12.7
$0.74
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$1.00
262,144
Context window, tokens
131,072

Every fact side by side

Qwen3.5-27BKimi K2 (0711)
Price per million tokens$0.27 in · $2.16 out$0.57 in · $2.30 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$0.74$1.00
Cheapest host, blended$0.54 (Alibaba)–
Intelligence Index22.912.7
Spring Prompt overall––
Output speed, tokens a second––
Context window262,144 tokens131,072 tokens
Released24 Feb 2026 (newer)12 Jul 2025
WeightsOpenOpen
Developer based inChinaChina

Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.

Which is better for what

Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 145 of 164 19 of 164
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 82 of 198 132 of 198
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 98 of 188 82 of 188
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 121 of 152 not measured

Every shared result

Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.

MeasureQwen3.5-27BKimi K2 (0711)
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 129 · 114 of 387 measured 1,409 1,418
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 128 · 127 of 380 measured 1,408 1,409
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 145 · 131 of 385 measured 1,358 1,371
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 86 · 147 of 243 measured 22.9 12.7
GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 74 · 131 of 231 measured 85.8% 76.6%
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 95 · 168 of 242 measured 23.9% 7.4%
UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results
Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 99 · 71 of 230 measured 42.4think-prefill reasoning 52.5
Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better 49 · 129 of 230 measured 11.0%think-prefill reasoning 22.0%
Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better 147 · 217 of 230 measured 0.33no reasoning 0.29
Show all 16 results (7 more)
MeasureQwen3.5-27BKimi K2 (0711)
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 112 · 141 of 338 measured 1,441 1,416
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 122 · 151 of 387 measured 1,401 1,381
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 135 · 141 of 386 measured 1,380 1,375
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results
IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 24 · 127 of 195 measured 75.6% 41.5%
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 63 · 146 of 233 measured 77.7% 53.0%
Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 61 · 107 of 190 measured 32.6% 15.9%
τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 28 · 95 of 193 measured 93.9% 61.1%

Quick answers

Is Qwen3.5-27B better than Kimi K2 (0711)?

Pick Qwen3.5-27B: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 22.9 against 12.7) and costs less.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5-27B or Kimi K2 (0711)?

Qwen3.5-27B is cheaper: $0.74 against $1.00 per million tokens, 26% less.

Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3.5-27B or Kimi K2 (0711)?

Kimi K2 (0711) ranks 19 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 145 for Qwen3.5-27B.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3.5-27B or Kimi K2 (0711)?

Qwen3.5-27B ranks 82 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 132 for Kimi K2 (0711).

Which is better for writing, Qwen3.5-27B or Kimi K2 (0711)?

Kimi K2 (0711) ranks 82 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 98 for Qwen3.5-27B.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3.5-27B or Kimi K2 (0711)?

Qwen3.5-27B: 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for Kimi K2 (0711).

Run Qwen3.5-27B and Kimi K2 (0711) on your own prompt

Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.