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Kimi K2 Instruct vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 21.6. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 1.9x cheaper per token.

Moonshot AI · MiniMax · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the overall LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 21.6, ranking #29 overall.

On price, MiniMax M3.1 Flash is roughly 1.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.

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

Choose Kimi K2 Instruct

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

Choose MiniMax M3.1 Flash

  • overall performance matters — it scores 48.5 and ranks #29 on LLM Stats
  • your work emphasizes reasoning and coding — it leads those capability indexes
  • cost matters — it's about 1.9x cheaper per token
  • you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Oct 2026

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Kimi K2 Instruct
Moonshot AI
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
MiniMax
Core performance indexes
LLM Stats Score
21.6
#206
48.5
#29
Reasoning
21.7
#195
45.8
#34
Coding
12.1
#168
37.8
#23
Agents
-1.1
#200
35.6
#23
Cost, coverage & limits
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.50 / M
$0.15 / M
Output price
$0.50 / M
$0.60 / M
Context window
200,000
1,000,000

Capability indexes

Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks

1 shared
Index
Kimi K2 Instruct
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Tool use
6.3#163
26.8#30
Conservative TrueSkill rating · higher is betterHow scores work

Individual benchmarks

38 reported for Kimi K2 Instruct · 14 for MiniMax M3.1 Flash

No common benchmarks found

Kimi K2 Instruct and MiniMax M3.1 Flashdon'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

Pricing Analysis

Price comparison per million tokens

MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs less

For input processing, Kimi K2 Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 3.3x more expensive than MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.15/1M tokens).

For output processing, Kimi K2 Instruct ($0.50/1M tokens) is 1.2x cheaper than MiniMax M3.1 Flash ($0.60/1M tokens).

In conclusion, Kimi K2 Instruct is more expensive than MiniMax M3.1 Flash.*

* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens

Lowest available price from all providers
Mon Oct 19 2026 • llm-stats.com
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
Input tokens$0.50
Output tokens$0.50
Best providerFireworks
MiniMax
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Input tokens$0.15
Output tokens$0.60
Best providerMiniMax
Notice missing or incorrect data?

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

MiniMax M3.1 Flash accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Kimi K2 Instruct's 200,000 tokens. MiniMax M3.1 Flash can generate longer responses up to 524,288 tokens, while Kimi K2 Instruct is limited to 200,000 tokens.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
MiniMax
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output524,288 tokens
Mon Oct 19 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

MiniMax M3.1 Flash supports multimodal inputs, whereas Kimi K2 Instruct does not.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Kimi K2 Instruct

Text
Images
Audio
Video

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2 Instruct is licensed under MIT, while MiniMax M3.1 Flash uses a proprietary license.

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

Kimi K2 Instruct

MIT

Open weights

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2 Instruct was released on 2025-07-11, while MiniMax M3.1 Flash was released on 2026-10-19.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 16 months newer than Kimi K2 Instruct.

Kimi K2 Instruct

Jul 11, 2025

1.3 years ago

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

Oct 19, 2026

0 days ago

1.3yr 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

Provider Availability

Kimi K2 Instruct is available from Fireworks, Novita. MiniMax M3.1 Flash is available from MiniMax.

Kimi K2 Instruct

fireworks logo
Fireworks
Input Price:Input: $0.50/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.50/1M
novita logo
Novita
Input Price:Input: $0.57/1MOutput Price:Output: $2.30/1M

MiniMax M3.1 Flash

minimax logo
MiniMax
Input Price:Input: $0.15/1MOutput Price:Output: $0.60/1M
* Prices shown are per million tokens

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Kimi K2 Instruct and MiniMax M3.1 Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K2 Instruct
✓ Preferred
MiniMax M3.1 Flash
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2 Instruct vs MiniMax M3.1 Flash.

Which is better, Kimi K2 Instruct or MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash leads the LLM Stats Score 48.5 to 21.6. Kimi K2 Instruct is made by Moonshot AI and MiniMax M3.1 Flash is made by MiniMax. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their capability indexes, individual benchmarks, pricing, and limits above.

How does Kimi K2 Instruct compare to MiniMax M3.1 Flash in benchmarks?

Kimi K2 Instruct scores MATH-500: 97.4%, GSM8k: 97.3%, CBNSL: 95.6%, HumanEval: 93.3%, MMLU-Redux: 92.7%. MiniMax M3.1 Flash scores BabyVision: 91.0%, CharXiv-R: 82.5%, CyberGym: 82.2%, BankerToolBench: 76.2%, DeepSWE 1.1: 73.7%.

Is Kimi K2 Instruct cheaper than MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is 3.3x cheaper for input tokens. Kimi K2 Instruct costs $0.50/M input and $0.50/M output via fireworks. MiniMax M3.1 Flash costs $0.15/M input and $0.60/M output via minimax.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K2 Instruct and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Kimi K2 Instruct supports 200K tokens and MiniMax M3.1 Flash 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 Instruct and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Key differences include LLM Stats Score (21.6 vs 48.5), context window (200K vs 1.0M), input pricing ($0.50 vs $0.15/M), multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (MIT vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K2 Instruct and MiniMax M3.1 Flash?

Kimi K2 Instruct is developed by Moonshot AI and MiniMax M3.1 Flash is developed by MiniMax.

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