Model Comparison

Kimi K2.6 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)Which is better in 2026?

Kimi K2.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Kimi K2.6 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) — which is better?

Kimi K2.6 (by Moonshot AI) and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) (by NVIDIA) 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 K2.6 outperforms in 8 benchmarks (BrowseComp, Finance Agent v2, GDPval-AA, GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, SciCode, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified), while Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is better at 2 benchmarks (Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench). Kimi K2.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Kimi K2.6 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 8 of 10 shared benchmarks

Choose Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) if…

  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jun 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

10 benchmarks

Kimi K2.6 outperforms in 8 benchmarks (BrowseComp, Finance Agent v2, GDPval-AA, GPQA, LiveCodeBench v6, SciCode, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Verified), while Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is better at 2 benchmarks (Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench).

Kimi K2.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Human preference votes

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

450.0B diff

Kimi K2.6 has 450.0B more parameters than Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B), making it 81.8% larger.

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.6
1.0Tparameters
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)
550.0Bparameters
1000.0B
Kimi K2.6
550.0B
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only Kimi K2.6 specifies input context (262,144 tokens). Only Kimi K2.6 specifies output context (131,072 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.6
Input262,144 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Kimi K2.6 supports multimodal inputs, whereas Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) does not.

Kimi K2.6 can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Kimi K2.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2.6 is licensed under Modified MIT License, while Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) uses OpenMDW License v1.1.

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

Kimi K2.6

Modified MIT License

Open weights

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

OpenMDW License v1.1

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2.6 was released on 2026-04-20, while Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) was released on 2026-06-04.

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is 2 months newer than Kimi K2.6.

Kimi K2.6

Apr 20, 2026

2 months ago

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

Jun 4, 2026

1 months ago

1mo newer

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2025-09-30, while Kimi K2.6's cutoff date is not specified.

We can confirm Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)'s training data extends to 2025-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without Kimi K2.6's cutoff date.

Kimi K2.6

—

Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

Sep 2025

Outputs Comparison

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Key Takeaways

Moonshot AI
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Supports multimodal inputs
Higher BrowseComp score (86.3% vs 44.4%)
Higher Finance Agent v2 score (44.9% vs 37.5%)
Higher GDPval-AA score (40.1% vs 39.4%)
Higher GPQA score (90.5% vs 87.0%)
Higher LiveCodeBench v6 score (89.6% vs 89.0%)
Higher SciCode score (52.2% vs 44.6%)
Higher SWE-bench Multilingual score (76.7% vs 67.7%)
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (80.2% vs 70.7%)
NVIDIA
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (37.4% vs 36.4%)
Higher IMO-AnswerBench score (92.3% vs 86.0%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Kimi K2.6 and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K2.6
✓ Preferred
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.6
NVIDIA
Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2.6 vs Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B).

Which is better, Kimi K2.6 or Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)?

Kimi K2.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Kimi K2.6 is made by Moonshot AI and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is made by NVIDIA. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Kimi K2.6 compare to Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) in benchmarks?

Kimi K2.6 scores V*: 96.9%, AIME 2026: 96.4%, MathVision: 93.2%, HMMT Feb 26: 92.7%, GPQA: 90.5%. Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) scores RULER: 94.7%, IMO-AnswerBench: 92.3%, PinchBench: 90.0%, LiveCodeBench v6: 89.0%, GPQA: 87.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K2.6 and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)?

Kimi K2.6 supports 262K tokens and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) 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 K2.6 and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no), licensing (Modified MIT License vs OpenMDW License v1.1). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K2.6 and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B)?

Kimi K2.6 is developed by Moonshot AI and Nemotron 3 Ultra (550B A55B) is developed by NVIDIA.

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