Model Comparison

Kimi K2 0905 vs Qwen2 72B InstructWhich is better in 2026?

Kimi K2 0905 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Kimi K2 0905 vs Qwen2 72B Instruct — which is better?

Kimi K2 0905 (by Moonshot AI) and Qwen2 72B Instruct (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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.

Kimi K2 0905 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen2 72B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks. Kimi K2 0905 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Kimi K2 0905 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 5 of 5 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025

Choose Qwen2 72B Instruct if…

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

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

5 benchmarks

Kimi K2 0905 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (GPQA, HumanEval, MATH, MMLU, MMLU-Pro), while Qwen2 72B Instruct is better at 0 benchmarks.

Kimi K2 0905 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sun Jun 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

928.0B diff

Kimi K2 0905 has 928.0B more parameters than Qwen2 72B Instruct, making it 1288.9% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 0905
1.0Tparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct
72.0Bparameters
1000.0B
Kimi K2 0905
72.0B
Qwen2 72B Instruct

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Kimi K2 0905 specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Kimi K2 0905 specifies output context (262,144 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 0905
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Jun 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2 0905 is licensed under a proprietary license, while Qwen2 72B Instruct uses tongyi-qianwen.

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

Kimi K2 0905

Proprietary

Closed source

Qwen2 72B Instruct

tongyi-qianwen

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2 0905 was released on 2025-09-05, while Qwen2 72B Instruct was released on 2024-07-23.

Kimi K2 0905 is 14 months newer than Qwen2 72B Instruct.

Kimi K2 0905

Sep 5, 2025

9 months ago

1.1yr newer
Qwen2 72B Instruct

Jul 23, 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→

Key Takeaways

Moonshot AI
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher GPQA score (75.8% vs 42.4%)
Higher HumanEval score (94.5% vs 86.0%)
Higher MATH score (89.1% vs 59.7%)
Higher MMLU score (90.2% vs 82.3%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (82.5% vs 64.4%)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen2 72B Instruct

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Has open weights

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 0905
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen2 72B Instruct

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2 0905 vs Qwen2 72B Instruct.

Which is better, Kimi K2 0905 or Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Kimi K2 0905 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K2 0905 is made by Moonshot AI and Qwen2 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 K2 0905 compare to Qwen2 72B Instruct in benchmarks?

Kimi K2 0905 scores HumanEval: 94.5%, MMLU: 90.2%, MATH: 89.1%, MMLU-Pro: 82.5%, GPQA: 75.8%. Qwen2 72B Instruct scores GSM8k: 91.1%, CMMLU: 90.1%, HellaSwag: 87.6%, HumanEval: 86.0%, Winogrande: 85.1%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K2 0905 and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Kimi K2 0905 supports 262K tokens and Qwen2 72B Instruct 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 Kimi K2 0905 and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Key differences include licensing (Proprietary vs tongyi-qianwen). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K2 0905 and Qwen2 72B Instruct?

Kimi K2 0905 is developed by Moonshot AI and Qwen2 72B Instruct is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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