Compare / Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B vs Kimi K2.5
Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B vs Kimi K2.5
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 20 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
Of the 20 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-Coder-480B-A35B or Kimi K2.5? The short answer
Pick Kimi K2.5 if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 23.5 against 11.9). Pick Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B if cost matters more: it costs 44% less per token.
- Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B is cheaper: $0.64 against $1.14 per million tokens, 44% less.
- Kimi K2.5 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 23.5 against 11.9.
- Kimi K2.5 is newer: released 27 Jan 2026, against 31 Jul 2025 for Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B.
- On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: Kimi K2.5 does better for agents and tool use, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Head to head
Every fact side by side
| Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B | Kimi K2.5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.35 in · $1.50 out | $0.57 in · $2.85 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $0.64 | $1.14 |
| Cheapest host, blended | $0.47 (DeepInfra, FP4) | $0.90 (SiliconFlow, INT4) |
| Intelligence Index | 11.9 | 23.5 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | – | – |
| Context window | 262,144 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Released | 31 Jul 2025 | 27 Jan 2026 (newer) |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Developer based in | China | China |
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.
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.
| Measure | Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B | Kimi K2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results | ||
| Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 156 · 67 of 387 measured | 1,387 | 1,450thinking reasoning |
| Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 135 · 69 of 163 measured | 1,401 | 1,445thinking reasoning |
| Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 148 · 86 of 380 measured | 1,391 | 1,440thinking reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results | ||
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 154 · 83 of 243 measured | 11.9 | 23.5 |
| GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 178 · 59 of 231 measured | 61.8% | 87.9% |
| Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 202 · 71 of 242 measured | 4.5% | 30.7% |
| OpenHands Index reported by OpenHands Index · 3 results | ||
| Average% resolved, higher is better 33 · 18 of 34 measured | 30.9%openhands | 49.2%openhands |
| Front end (SWE-Bench Multimodal)% resolved, higher is better 29 · 18 of 34 measured | 23.5%openhands | 32.8%openhands |
| Greenfield (Commit0)% resolved, higher is better 34 · 21 of 34 measured | 0.0%openhands | 18.8%openhands |
Show all 20 results (11 more)
| Measure | Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B | Kimi K2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 4 results | ||
| Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 141 · 67 of 385 measured | 1,363 | 1,423thinking reasoning |
| Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 174 · 58 of 338 measured | 1,379 | 1,483thinking reasoning |
| Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 144 · 69 of 387 measured | 1,384 | 1,439thinking reasoning |
| Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 150 · 70 of 386 measured | 1,366 | 1,428thinking reasoning |
| Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results | ||
| IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 133 · 54 of 195 measured | 40.5% | 70.2% |
| Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 161 · 59 of 233 measured | 45.7% | 78.0% |
| Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 94 · 49 of 190 measured | 18.9% | 34.8% |
| τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 110 · 12 of 193 measured | 43.6% | 95.9% |
| OpenHands Index reported by OpenHands Index · 3 results | ||
| Information gathering (GAIA)% resolved, higher is better 29 · 17 of 34 measured | 33.9%openhands | 63.6%openhands |
| Issue resolution (SWE-Bench)% resolved, higher is better 30 · 27 of 34 measured | 62.4%openhands | 68.8%openhands |
| Testing (SWT-Bench)% resolved, higher is better 32 · 22 of 34 measured | 34.9%openhands | 61.9%openhands |
Compare them with other models
Quick answers
Is Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B better than Kimi K2.5?
Pick Kimi K2.5 if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 23.5 against 11.9). Pick Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B if cost matters more: it costs 44% less per token.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B or Kimi K2.5?
Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B is cheaper: $0.64 against $1.14 per million tokens, 44% less.
Which is better for agents and tool use, Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B or Kimi K2.5?
Kimi K2.5 ranks 89 of 164 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 162 for Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B.
Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B or Kimi K2.5?
Kimi K2.5 ranks 69 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 152 for Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B.
Which is better for writing, Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B or Kimi K2.5?
Kimi K2.5 ranks 47 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 121 for Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B.
Which is better for sticking to the facts, Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B or Kimi K2.5?
Kimi K2.5 ranks 107 of 152 models on sale for summarising without inventing things, and factual answers, against 132 for Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B.
Run Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B and Kimi K2.5 on your own prompt
Benchmarks aren't your data. Try both side by side in the playground, with the cost of every answer.