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Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Kimi K2 Instruct

Gemini 3.8 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 51.0 to 22.0. Kimi K2 Instruct is 3.0x cheaper per token.

Google · Moonshot AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Gemini 3.8 Flash leads the overall LLM Stats Score 51.0 to 22.0, ranking #15 overall.

On price, Kimi K2 Instruct is roughly 3.0x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

Gemini 3.8 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Gemini 3.8 Flash

  • overall performance matters — it scores 51.0 and ranks #15 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2026

Choose Kimi K2 Instruct

  • cost matters — it's about 3.0x cheaper per token
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Gemini 3.8 Flash
Google
Kimi K2 Instruct
Moonshot AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
51.0
#15
22.0
#171
Reasoning
46.9
#24
22.1
#163
Coding
39.3
#14
12.6
#138
Agents
35.8
#16
-0.9
#164
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.75 / M
$0.50 / M
Output price
$3.75 / M
$0.50 / M
Context window
1,048,576
200,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Kimi K2 Instruct
Tool use
26.7#23
7.4#136
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

13 reported for Gemini 3.8 Flash · 38 for Kimi K2 Instruct

No common benchmarks found

Gemini 3.8 Flash and Kimi K2 Instructdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

Kimi K2 Instruct costs less

For input processing, Gemini 3.8 Flash ($0.75/1M tokens) is 1.5x more expensive than Kimi K2 Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens).

For output processing, Gemini 3.8 Flash ($3.75/1M tokens) is 7.5x more expensive than Kimi K2 Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Gemini 3.8 Flash is more expensive than Kimi K2 Instruct.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Fri Sep 04 2026 • llm-stats.com
Google
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Input tokens$0.75
Output tokens$3.75
Best providerGoogle
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerFireworks
Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue→

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Kimi K2 Instruct's 200,000 tokens. Kimi K2 Instruct can generate longer responses up to 200,000 tokens, while Gemini 3.8 Flash is limited to 65,536 tokens.

Google
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output65,536 tokens
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Fri Sep 04 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Gemini 3.8 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas Kimi K2 Instruct does not.

Gemini 3.8 Flash can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Gemini 3.8 Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Kimi K2 Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Gemini 3.8 Flash is licensed under a proprietary license, while Kimi K2 Instruct uses MIT.

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

Gemini 3.8 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Kimi K2 Instruct

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Gemini 3.8 Flash was released on 2026-09-02, while Kimi K2 Instruct was released on 2025-07-11.

Gemini 3.8 Flash is 14 months newer than Kimi K2 Instruct.

Gemini 3.8 Flash

Sep 2, 2026

1 days ago

1.1yr newer
Kimi K2 Instruct

Jul 11, 2025

1.1 years ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Gemini 3.8 Flash has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2026-03-31, while Kimi K2 Instruct's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Gemini 3.8 Flash's training data extends to 2026-03-31, but cannot make a direct comparison without Kimi K2 Instruct's cutoff date.

Gemini 3.8 Flash

Mar 2026

Kimi K2 Instruct

—

Provider Availability

Gemini 3.8 Flash is available from Google. Kimi K2 Instruct is available from Fireworks, Novita.

Gemini 3.8 Flash

google logo
Google
Input Price:Input: $0.75/1MOutput Price:Output: $3.75/1M

Kimi K2 Instruct

fireworks logo
Fireworks
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.50/1M
novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.57/1MOutput Price:Output: $2.30/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Gemini 3.8 Flash and Kimi K2 Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Gemini 3.8 Flash
✓ Preferred
Kimi K2 Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Kimi K2 Instruct.

Which is better, Gemini 3.8 Flash or Kimi K2 Instruct?

Gemini 3.8 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 51.0 to 22.0. Gemini 3.8 Flash is made by Google and Kimi K2 Instruct is made by Moonshot AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Gemini 3.8 Flash compare to Kimi K2 Instruct in benchmarks?

Gemini 3.8 Flash scores Terminal-Bench 2.1: 89.4%, LVBench: 87.1%, CharXiv-R: 86.2%, LABBench2: 86.2%, DeepSWE 1.1: 73.7%. Kimi K2 Instruct scores MATH-500: 97.4%, GSM8k: 97.3%, CBNSL: 95.6%, HumanEval: 93.3%, MMLU-Redux: 92.7%.

Is Gemini 3.8 Flash cheaper than Kimi K2 Instruct?

Kimi K2 Instruct is 1.5x cheaper for input tokens. Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75/M input and $3.75/M output via google. Kimi K2 Instruct costs $0.50/M input and $0.50/M output via fireworks.

What are the context window sizes for Gemini 3.8 Flash and Kimi K2 Instruct?

Gemini 3.8 Flash supports 1.0M tokens and Kimi K2 Instruct supports 200K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Gemini 3.8 Flash and Kimi K2 Instruct?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (51.0 vs 22.0), context window (1.0M vs 200K), input pricing ($0.75 vs $0.50/M), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Gemini 3.8 Flash and Kimi K2 Instruct?

Gemini 3.8 Flash is developed by Google and Kimi K2 Instruct is developed by Moonshot AI.

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