Model Comparison

Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Kimi-k1.5Which is better in 2026?

Kimi-k1.5 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Verdict: Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Kimi-k1.5 — which is better?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet (by Anthropic) and Kimi-k1.5 (by Moonshot AI) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU), while Kimi-k1.5 is better at 2 benchmarks (MathVista, MMMU). Kimi-k1.5 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output

Choose Kimi-k1.5 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Claude 3.5 Sonnet outperforms in 1 benchmarks (MMLU), while Kimi-k1.5 is better at 2 benchmarks (MathVista, MMMU).

Kimi-k1.5 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Sun Jun 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Claude 3.5 Sonnet specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Claude 3.5 Sonnet specifies output context (200,000 tokens).

Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Moonshot AI
Kimi-k1.5
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jun 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Kimi-k1.5 support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Kimi-k1.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Proprietary

Closed source

Kimi-k1.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released on 2024-10-22, while Kimi-k1.5 was released on 2025-01-20.

Kimi-k1.5 is 3 months newer than Claude 3.5 Sonnet.

Claude 3.5 Sonnet

Oct 22, 2024

1.6 years ago

Kimi-k1.5

Jan 20, 2025

1.4 years ago

3mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion

Key Takeaways

Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Higher MMLU score (90.4% vs 87.4%)
Higher MathVista score (74.9% vs 67.7%)
Higher MMMU score (70.0% vs 68.3%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Anthropic
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
Moonshot AI
Kimi-k1.5

FAQ

Common questions about Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Kimi-k1.5.

Which is better, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Kimi-k1.5?

Kimi-k1.5 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is made by Anthropic and Kimi-k1.5 is made by Moonshot AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Claude 3.5 Sonnet compare to Kimi-k1.5 in benchmarks?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet scores GSM8k: 96.4%, DocVQA: 95.2%, AI2D: 94.7%, HumanEval: 93.7%, BIG-Bench Hard: 93.1%. Kimi-k1.5 scores MATH-500: 96.2%, CLUEWSC: 91.4%, C-Eval: 88.3%, MMLU: 87.4%, IFEval: 87.2%.

What are the context window sizes for Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Kimi-k1.5?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 200K tokens and Kimi-k1.5 supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

Who makes Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Kimi-k1.5?

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is developed by Anthropic and Kimi-k1.5 is developed by Moonshot AI.