Model Comparison
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 vs MiniMax M2Which is better in 2026?
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. MiniMax M2 is 1.6x cheaper per token.
Verdict: Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 vs MiniMax M2 — which is better?
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 (by Moonshot AI) and MiniMax M2 (by MiniMax) 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-Thinking-0905 outperforms in 11 benchmarks (AIME 2025, BrowseComp, BrowseComp-zh, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, MMLU-Pro, Multi-SWE-Bench, SciCode, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench), while MiniMax M2 is better at 0 benchmarks. Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
On price, MiniMax M2 is roughly 1.6x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
MiniMax M2 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 11 of 11 shared benchmarks
Choose MiniMax M2 if…
- cost matters — it's about 1.6x 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 2025
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 outperforms in 11 benchmarks (AIME 2025, BrowseComp, BrowseComp-zh, GPQA, Humanity's Last Exam, MMLU-Pro, Multi-SWE-Bench, SciCode, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench), while MiniMax M2 is better at 0 benchmarks.
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 ($0.47/1M tokens) is 1.6x more expensive than MiniMax M2 ($0.30/1M tokens).
For output processing, Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 ($2.00/1M tokens) is 1.7x more expensive than MiniMax M2 ($1.20/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is more expensive than MiniMax M2.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Model Size
Parameter count comparison
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 has 770.0B more parameters than MiniMax M2, making it 334.8% larger.
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
MiniMax M2 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Kimi K2-Thinking-0905's 262,144 tokens. MiniMax M2 can generate longer responses up to 1,000,000 tokens, while Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is limited to 262,144 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under MIT.
Both models share the same licensing terms, providing consistent usage rights.
MIT
Open weights
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 was released on 2025-09-05, while MiniMax M2 was released on 2025-10-27.
MiniMax M2 is 2 months newer than Kimi K2-Thinking-0905.
Sep 5, 2025
9 months ago
Oct 27, 2025
7 months ago
1mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 is available from DeepInfra, Novita, Fireworks. MiniMax M2 is available from MiniMax, Novita.
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905
MiniMax M2
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
Kimi K2-Thinking-0905
View detailsMoonshot AI
MiniMax M2
View detailsMiniMax
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about Kimi K2-Thinking-0905 vs MiniMax M2.