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Kimi K2 Base vs Kimi K2.8 Preview

Comparing Kimi K2 Base and Kimi K2.8 Preview across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Moonshot AI · Moonshot AI · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Kimi K2 Base and Kimi K2.8 Preview trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

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

Choose Kimi K2 Base

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

Choose Kimi K2.8 Preview

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Kimi K2 Base
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.8 Preview
Moonshot AI
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
1,048,576

Individual benchmarks

13 reported for Kimi K2 Base · 0 for Kimi K2.8 Preview

No common benchmarks found

Kimi K2 Base and Kimi K2.8 Previewdon'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

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Kimi K2.8 Preview specifies input context (1,048,576 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.8 Preview
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output- tokens
Sun Sep 20 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Kimi K2.8 Preview supports multimodal inputs, whereas Kimi K2 Base does not.

Kimi K2.8 Preview can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Kimi K2 Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Kimi K2.8 Preview

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2 Base is licensed under MIT, while Kimi K2.8 Preview uses a proprietary license.

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

Kimi K2 Base

MIT

Open weights

Kimi K2.8 Preview

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2 Base was released on 2025-07-11, while Kimi K2.8 Preview was released on 2026-09-11.

Kimi K2.8 Preview is 14 months newer than Kimi K2 Base.

Kimi K2 Base

Jul 11, 2025

1.2 years ago

Kimi K2.8 Preview

Sep 11, 2026

1 weeks ago

1.2yr 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 Kimi K2 Base and Kimi K2.8 Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K2 Base
✓ Preferred
Kimi K2.8 Preview
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2 Base vs Kimi K2.8 Preview.

Which is better, Kimi K2 Base or Kimi K2.8 Preview?

Kimi K2 Base (Moonshot AI) and Kimi K2.8 Preview (Moonshot AI) each have strengths in different areas. Compare their benchmark scores, pricing, context windows, and capabilities above to determine which fits your needs.

How does Kimi K2 Base compare to Kimi K2.8 Preview in benchmarks?

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 Kimi K2 Base and Kimi K2.8 Preview?

Kimi K2 Base supports an unknown number of tokens and Kimi K2.8 Preview supports 1.0M 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 Base and Kimi K2.8 Preview?

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

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