Model Comparison

Kimi K2 Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-BaseWhich is better in 2026?

Comparing Kimi K2 Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Verdict: Kimi K2 Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base — which is better?

Kimi K2 Instruct (by Moonshot AI) and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base (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.

Choose Kimi K2 Instruct if…

  • you want predictable pricing at $0.50/M input and $0.50/M output

Choose Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Sep 2025
Want to compare interactively?Try the playground

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

No common benchmarks found

Kimi K2 Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Basedon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

920.0B diff

Kimi K2 Instruct has 920.0B more parameters than Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base, making it 1150.0% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
1.0Tparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base
80.0Bparameters
1000.0B
Kimi K2 Instruct
80.0B
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Kimi K2 Instruct specifies input context (200,000 tokens). Only Kimi K2 Instruct specifies output context (200,000 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
Input200,000 tokens
Output200,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jun 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2 Instruct is licensed under MIT, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base uses Apache 2.0.

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

Kimi K2 Instruct

MIT

Open weights

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2 Instruct was released on 2025-07-11, while Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base was released on 2025-09-10.

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base is 2 months newer than Kimi K2 Instruct.

Kimi K2 Instruct

Jul 11, 2025

11 months ago

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base

Sep 10, 2025

9 months ago

2mo 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
Larger context window (200,000 tokens)
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

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

Detailed Comparison

AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2 Instruct vs Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base.

Which is better, Kimi K2 Instruct or Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base?

Kimi K2 Instruct (Moonshot AI) and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base (Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) 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 Instruct compare to Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base in benchmarks?

Kimi K2 Instruct scores MATH-500: 97.4%, GSM8k: 97.3%, CBNSL: 95.6%, HumanEval: 93.3%, MMLU-Redux: 92.7%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K2 Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base?

Kimi K2 Instruct supports 200K tokens and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base supports an unknown number of 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 Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base?

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

Who makes Kimi K2 Instruct and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base?

Kimi K2 Instruct is developed by Moonshot AI and Qwen3-Next-80B-A3B-Base is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

Related comparisons