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Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen4-Max-Preview

Comparing Kimi K2.6 and Qwen4-Max-Preview across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

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

Which is better?

Kimi K2.6 and Qwen4-Max-Preview trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.

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

Choose Kimi K2.6

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

Choose Qwen4-Max-Preview

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

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Kimi K2.6
Moonshot AI
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
$0.75 / M
— / M
Output price
$3.50 / M
— / M
Context window
262,144
—

Individual benchmarks

28 reported for Kimi K2.6 · 0 for Qwen4-Max-Preview

No common benchmarks found

Kimi K2.6 and Qwen4-Max-Previewdon'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

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
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Thu Nov 12 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Both Kimi K2.6 and Qwen4-Max-Preview support multimodal inputs.

They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.

Kimi K2.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Kimi K2.6 is licensed under Modified MIT License, while Qwen4-Max-Preview uses a proprietary license.

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

Kimi K2.6

Modified MIT License

Open weights

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2.6 was released on 2026-04-20, while Qwen4-Max-Preview was released on 2026-11-11.

Qwen4-Max-Preview is 7 months newer than Kimi K2.6.

Kimi K2.6

Apr 20, 2026

6 months ago

Qwen4-Max-Preview

Nov 11, 2026

1 days ago

6mo 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?

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Kimi K2.6 and Qwen4-Max-Preview side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K2.6
✓ Preferred
Qwen4-Max-Preview
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen4-Max-Preview.

Which is better, Kimi K2.6 or Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Kimi K2.6 (Moonshot AI) and Qwen4-Max-Preview (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 K2.6 compare to Qwen4-Max-Preview in benchmarks?

Kimi K2.6 scores V*: 96.9%, AIME 2026: 96.4%, MathVision: 93.2%, HMMT Feb 26: 92.7%, GPQA: 90.5%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K2.6 and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Kimi K2.6 supports 262K tokens and Qwen4-Max-Preview 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 Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Key differences include licensing (Modified MIT License vs Proprietary). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K2.6 and Qwen4-Max-Preview?

Kimi K2.6 is developed by Moonshot AI and Qwen4-Max-Preview is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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