Model Comparison

Gemini 1.5 Flash vs Kimi K2 BaseWhich is better in 2026?

Kimi K2 Base has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Verdict: Gemini 1.5 Flash vs Kimi K2 Base — which is better?

Gemini 1.5 Flash (by Google) and Kimi K2 Base (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.

Gemini 1.5 Flash outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH), while Kimi K2 Base is better at 3 benchmarks (GSM8k, MMLU, MMLU-Pro). Kimi K2 Base has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Choose Gemini 1.5 Flash if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.15/M input and $0.60/M output

Choose Kimi K2 Base if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Gemini 1.5 Flash outperforms in 2 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH), while Kimi K2 Base is better at 3 benchmarks (GSM8k, MMLU, MMLU-Pro).

Kimi K2 Base has a slight edge in benchmark performance.

Sat Jun 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Gemini 1.5 Flash specifies input context (1,048,576 tokens). Only Gemini 1.5 Flash specifies output context (8,192 tokens).

Google
Gemini 1.5 Flash
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sat Jun 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Gemini 1.5 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas Kimi K2 Base does not.

Gemini 1.5 Flash can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemini 1.5 Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Kimi K2 Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemini 1.5 Flash is licensed under a proprietary license, while Kimi K2 Base uses MIT.

License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.

Gemini 1.5 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Kimi K2 Base

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemini 1.5 Flash was released on 2024-05-01, while Kimi K2 Base was released on 2025-07-11.

Kimi K2 Base is 15 months newer than Gemini 1.5 Flash.

Gemini 1.5 Flash

May 1, 2024

2.2 years ago

Kimi K2 Base

Jul 11, 2025

11 months ago

1.2yr newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 1.5 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-11-01, while Kimi K2 Base's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemini 1.5 Flash's training data extends to 2023-11-01, but cannot make a direct comparison without Kimi K2 Base's cutoff date.

Gemini 1.5 Flash

Nov 2023

Kimi K2 Base

—

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Google
Larger context window (1,048,576 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher GPQA score (51.0% vs 48.1%)
Higher MATH score (77.9% vs 70.2%)
Moonshot AI
Has open weights
Higher GSM8k score (92.1% vs 86.2%)
Higher MMLU score (87.8% vs 78.9%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (69.2% vs 67.3%)
GoogleGemini 1.5 Flash
Moonshot AIKimi K2 Base
Compare in Playground

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemini 1.5 Flash and Kimi K2 Base side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemini 1.5 Flash
✓ Preferred
Kimi K2 Base
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Google
Gemini 1.5 Flash
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base

FAQ

Common questions about Gemini 1.5 Flash vs Kimi K2 Base.

Which is better, Gemini 1.5 Flash or Kimi K2 Base?

Kimi K2 Base has a slight edge in benchmark performance. Gemini 1.5 Flash is made by Google and Kimi K2 Base is made by Moonshot AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Gemini 1.5 Flash compare to Kimi K2 Base in benchmarks?

Gemini 1.5 Flash scores XSTest: 97.0%, FLEURS: 90.4%, HellaSwag: 86.5%, GSM8k: 86.2%, BIG-Bench Hard: 85.5%. Kimi K2 Base scores C-Eval: 92.5%, GSM8k: 92.1%, MMLU-redux-2.0: 90.2%, MMLU: 87.8%, TriviaQA: 85.1%.

What are the context window sizes for Gemini 1.5 Flash and Kimi K2 Base?

Gemini 1.5 Flash supports 1.0M tokens and Kimi K2 Base supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemini 1.5 Flash and Kimi K2 Base?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemini 1.5 Flash and Kimi K2 Base?

Gemini 1.5 Flash is developed by Google and Kimi K2 Base is developed by Moonshot AI.

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