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Kimi K2 Base vs Qwen3.8-27B

Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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

Which is better?

Kimi K2 Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8-27B is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6). Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

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

Choose Kimi K2 Base

  • you are already invested in the Moonshot AI ecosystem

Choose Qwen3.8-27B

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 2 of 2 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Kimi K2 Base
Moonshot AI
Qwen3.8-27B
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Benchmark wins
0 of 2
2 of 2
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
—
—
Released
Jul 2025
Aug 2026
License
MIT
Apache 2.0

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

2 benchmarks

Kimi K2 Base outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Qwen3.8-27B is better at 2 benchmarks (GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6).

Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Aug 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

972.2B diff

Kimi K2 Base has 972.2B more parameters than Qwen3.8-27B, making it 3499.5% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Base
1.0Tparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8-27B
27.8Bparameters
1000.0B
Kimi K2 Base
27.8B
Qwen3.8-27B

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3.8-27B supports multimodal inputs, whereas Kimi K2 Base does not.

Qwen3.8-27B can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Kimi K2 Base

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8-27B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2 Base is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3.8-27B 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

Qwen3.8-27B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2 Base was released on 2025-07-11, while Qwen3.8-27B was released on 2026-08-14.

Qwen3.8-27B is 13 months newer than Kimi K2 Base.

Kimi K2 Base

Jul 11, 2025

1.1 years ago

Qwen3.8-27B

Aug 14, 2026

1 weeks ago

1.1yr 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 Qwen3.8-27B side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K2 Base
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8-27B
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2 Base vs Qwen3.8-27B.

Which is better, Kimi K2 Base or Qwen3.8-27B?

Qwen3.8-27B significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K2 Base is made by Moonshot AI and Qwen3.8-27B 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 Qwen3.8-27B 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%. Qwen3.8-27B scores MathVision: 94.6%, OmniDocBench 1.5: 91.1%, LiveCodeBench v6: 90.3%, CharXiv-R: 90.2%, GPQA: 89.2%.

What are the main differences between Kimi K2 Base and Qwen3.8-27B?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Apache 2.0). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K2 Base and Qwen3.8-27B?

Kimi K2 Base is developed by Moonshot AI and Qwen3.8-27B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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