Model Comparison

Kimi K2 Base vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507Which is better in 2026?

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Kimi K2 Base vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 — which is better?

Kimi K2 Base (by Moonshot AI) and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 (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 Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is better at 6 benchmarks (CSimpleQA, GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro, SimpleQA, SuperGPQA). Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Kimi K2 Base if…

  • you are already invested in the Moonshot AI ecosystem

Choose Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 6 of 6 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jul 2025

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

6 benchmarks

Kimi K2 Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is better at 6 benchmarks (CSimpleQA, GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, MMLU-Pro, SimpleQA, SuperGPQA).

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

765.0B diff

Kimi K2 Base has 765.0B more parameters than Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507, making it 325.5% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
1.0Tparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
235.0Bparameters
1000.0B
Kimi K2 Base
235.0B
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
Input262,144 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Sat Jul 18 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2 Base is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 uses Apache 2.0.

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

Kimi K2 Base

MIT

Open weights

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2 Base was released on 2025-07-11, while Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 was released on 2025-07-22.

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is 0 month newer than Kimi K2 Base.

Kimi K2 Base

Jul 11, 2025

1.0 years ago

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

Jul 22, 2025

12 months ago

1w 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→

Key Takeaways

Moonshot AI

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

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher CSimpleQA score (84.3% vs 77.6%)
Higher GPQA score (77.5% vs 48.1%)
Higher LiveCodeBench v6 score (51.8% vs 26.3%)
Higher MMLU-Pro score (83.0% vs 69.2%)
Higher SimpleQA score (54.3% vs 35.3%)
Higher SuperGPQA score (62.6% vs 44.7%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Kimi K2 Base and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K2 Base
✓ Preferred
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2 Base vs Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507.

Which is better, Kimi K2 Base or Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507?

Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K2 Base is made by Moonshot AI and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 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 Base compare to Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 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%. Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 scores ZebraLogic: 95.0%, MMLU-Redux: 93.1%, IFEval: 88.7%, MultiPL-E: 87.9%, Creative Writing v3: 87.5%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K2 Base and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507?

Kimi K2 Base supports an unknown number of tokens and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 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 Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507?

Key differences include licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K2 Base and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507?

Kimi K2 Base is developed by Moonshot AI and Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507 is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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