Claude Opus 4.6 vs Kimi K2-Thinking-0905
Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is 11.7x cheaper per token.
Anthropic · Moonshot AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (BrowseComp, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified), while Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025). Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is roughly 11.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Claude Opus 4.6 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude Opus 4.6
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 6 shared benchmarks
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Feb 2026
Choose Kimi K2-Thinking-0905
- cost matters — it's about 11.7x cheaper per token
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude Opus 4.6 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (BrowseComp, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified), while Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is better at 1 benchmark (AIME 2025).
Claude Opus 4.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($5.00/1M tokens) is 10.6x more expensive than Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 ($0.47/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Opus 4.6 ($25.00/1M tokens) is 12.5x more expensive than Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 ($2.00/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Opus 4.6 is more expensive than Kimi K2-Thinking-0905.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Claude Opus 4.6 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Kimi K2-Thinking-0905's 262,144 tokens. Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 can generate longer responses up to 262,144 tokens, while Claude Opus 4.6 is limited to 128,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Claude Opus 4.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 does not.
Claude Opus 4.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
Claude Opus 4.6
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude Opus 4.6 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude Opus 4.6 was released on 2026-02-05, while Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 was released on 2025-09-05.
Claude Opus 4.6 is 5 months newer than Kimi K2-Thinking-0905.
Feb 5, 2026
6 months ago
5mo newerSep 5, 2025
11 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Claude Opus 4.6 is available from Anthropic. Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is available from DeepInfra, Novita, Fireworks.
Claude Opus 4.6
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4.6 and Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude Opus 4.6 vs Kimi K2-Thinking-0905.