Model Comparison

Kimi K2 Base vs Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)Which is better in 2026?

Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Kimi K2 Base vs Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) — which is better?

Kimi K2 Base (by Moonshot AI) and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) (by NVIDIA) 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 Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro). Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Kimi K2 Base if…

  • you are already invested in the Moonshot AI ecosystem

Choose Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 3 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Dec 2025
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Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

3 benchmarks

Kimi K2 Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is better at 3 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro).

Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

968.0B diff

Kimi K2 Base has 968.0B more parameters than Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B), making it 3025.0% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
1.0Tparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)
32.0Bparameters
1000.0B
Kimi K2 Base
32.0B
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) specifies output context (262,144 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)
Input262,144 tokens
Output262,144 tokens
Sat Jun 13 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2 Base is licensed under MIT, while Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) uses NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement .

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

Kimi K2 Base

MIT

Open weights

Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)

NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2 Base was released on 2025-07-11, while Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) was released on 2025-12-15.

Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is 5 months newer than Kimi K2 Base.

Kimi K2 Base

Jul 11, 2025

11 months ago

Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)

Dec 15, 2025

6 months ago

5mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-11-28, while Kimi K2 Base's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)'s training data extends to 2025-11-28, but cannot make a direct comparison without Kimi K2 Base's cutoff date.

Kimi K2 Base

—

Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)

Nov 2025

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Moonshot AI

No standout differentiators in the data we have for this pair.

NVIDIA
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher GPQA score (75.0% vs 48.1%)
Higher LiveCodeBench v6 score (68.3% vs 26.3%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (78.3% vs 69.2%)

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2 Base vs Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B).

Which is better, Kimi K2 Base or Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)?

Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K2 Base is made by Moonshot AI and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Kimi K2 Base compare to Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) 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%. Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) scores AIME 2025: 99.2%, WMT24++: 86.2%, MMLU-Pro: 78.3%, GPQA: 75.0%, LiveCodeBench v6: 68.3%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K2 Base and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)?

Kimi K2 Base supports an unknown number of tokens and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) supports 262K 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 Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)?

Key differences include licensing (MIT vs NVIDIA Open Model License Agreement ). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K2 Base and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B)?

Kimi K2 Base is developed by Moonshot AI and Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) is developed by NVIDIA.

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