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Kimi-k1.5 vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

Kimi-k1.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Moonshot AI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Kimi-k1.5 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (IFEval), while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Kimi-k1.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose Kimi-k1.5

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 1 of 1 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025

Choose Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Benchmark wins
1 of 1
0 of 1
Input price
— / M
$0.35 / M
Output price
— / M
$0.40 / M
Context window
131,072
Released
Jan 2025
Sep 2024
License
Proprietary
Qwen

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

1 benchmarks

Kimi-k1.5 outperforms in 1 benchmarks (IFEval), while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Kimi-k1.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Thu Aug 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen2.5 72B Instruct specifies input context (131,072 tokens). Only Qwen2.5 72B Instruct specifies output context (8,192 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi-k1.5
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Input131,072 tokens
Output8,192 tokens
Thu Aug 27 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Kimi-k1.5 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Qwen2.5 72B Instruct does not.

Kimi-k1.5 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Kimi-k1.5

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi-k1.5 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct uses Qwen.

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

Kimi-k1.5

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

Qwen

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi-k1.5 was released on 2025-01-20, while Qwen2.5 72B Instruct was released on 2024-09-19.

Kimi-k1.5 is 4 months newer than Qwen2.5 72B Instruct.

Kimi-k1.5

Jan 20, 2025

1.6 years ago

4mo newer
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

Sep 19, 2024

1.9 years ago

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 Kimi-k1.5 and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi-k1.5
✓ Preferred
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi-k1.5 vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct.

Which is better, Kimi-k1.5 or Qwen2.5 72B Instruct?

Kimi-k1.5 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi-k1.5 is made by Moonshot AI and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Kimi-k1.5 compare to Qwen2.5 72B Instruct in benchmarks?

Kimi-k1.5 scores MATH-500: 96.2%, CLUEWSC: 91.4%, C-Eval: 88.3%, MMLU: 87.4%, IFEval: 87.2%. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct scores GSM8k: 95.8%, MT-Bench: 93.5%, MBPP: 88.2%, MMLU-Redux: 86.8%, HumanEval: 86.6%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi-k1.5 and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct?

Kimi-k1.5 supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct supports 131K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Kimi-k1.5 and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct?

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

Who makes Kimi-k1.5 and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct?

Kimi-k1.5 is developed by Moonshot AI and Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.