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Grok-2 vs Kimi K2 Base

Grok-2 and Kimi K2 Base are closely matched at 11.4 and 13.5 on the LLM Stats Score.

xAI · Moonshot AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Grok-2 and Kimi K2 Base are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 11.4 and 13.5.

In the 4 individual benchmarks reported for both models, Grok-2 wins 3; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.

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

Choose Grok-2

  • you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 3 of 4 exact shared results

Choose Kimi K2 Base

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025
  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Grok-2
xAI
Kimi K2 Base
Moonshot AI
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
11.4
#261
13.5
#247
Reasoning
11.4
#258
12.6
#245
Coding
9.2
#177
10.6
#166
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
3 of 4
1 of 4
Input price
$2.00 / M
— / M
Output price
$10.00 / M
— / M
Context window
128,000
—

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

3 shared
Index
Grok-2
Kimi K2 Base
Math
18.2#183
14.3#219
Finance
18.6#93
16.3#113
Legal
18.6#78
16.3#95
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

8 reported for Grok-2 · 13 for Kimi K2 Base

4 shared

Grok-2 outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MMLU-Pro), while Kimi K2 Base is better at 1 benchmark (MMLU).

Grok-2 shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.

Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Human preference

Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Grok-2 specifies input context (128,000 tokens). Only Grok-2 specifies output context (8,000 tokens).

xAI
Grok-2
Input128,000 tokens
Output8,000 tokens
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Tue Sep 22 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Grok-2 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Kimi K2 Base does not.

Grok-2 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Grok-2

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Kimi K2 Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Grok-2 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.

Grok-2

Proprietary

Closed source

Kimi K2 Base

MIT

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Grok-2 was released on 2024-08-13, while Kimi K2 Base was released on 2025-07-11.

Kimi K2 Base is 11 months newer than Grok-2.

Grok-2

Aug 13, 2024

2.1 years ago

Kimi K2 Base

Jul 11, 2025

1.2 years ago

11mo 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→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Grok-2 and Kimi K2 Base side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Grok-2
✓ Preferred
Kimi K2 Base
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Grok-2 vs Kimi K2 Base.

Which is better, Grok-2 or Kimi K2 Base?

Grok-2 and Kimi K2 Base are closely matched on the LLM Stats Score at 11.4 and 13.5. Grok-2 is made by xAI and Kimi K2 Base 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 Grok-2 compare to Kimi K2 Base in benchmarks?

Grok-2 scores DocVQA: 93.6%, HumanEval: 88.4%, MMLU: 87.5%, MATH: 76.1%, MMLU-Pro: 75.5%. 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 Grok-2 and Kimi K2 Base?

Grok-2 supports 128K 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 Grok-2 and Kimi K2 Base?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (11.4 vs 13.5), multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Proprietary vs MIT). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Grok-2 and Kimi K2 Base?

Grok-2 is developed by xAI and Kimi K2 Base is developed by Moonshot AI.

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