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Kimi K2.8 Preview vs MAI-Thinking-1

Comparing Kimi K2.8 Preview and MAI-Thinking-1 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.

Moonshot AI · Microsoft · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

Kimi K2.8 Preview and MAI-Thinking-1 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 K2.8 Preview

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

Choose MAI-Thinking-1

  • you are already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

Kimi K2.8 Preview
Moonshot AI
MAI-Thinking-1
Microsoft
Benchmark wins
—
—
Input price
— / M
— / M
Output price
— / M
— / M
Context window
1,048,576
—

Individual benchmarks

0 reported for Kimi K2.8 Preview · 23 for MAI-Thinking-1

No common benchmarks found

Kimi K2.8 Preview and MAI-Thinking-1don'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 K2.8 Preview specifies input context (1,048,576 tokens).

Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.8 Preview
Input1,048,576 tokens
Output- tokens
Microsoft
MAI-Thinking-1
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mon Sep 14 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input capabilities

Documented input modalities across available providers

Kimi K2.8 Preview supports multimodal inputs, whereas MAI-Thinking-1 does not.

Kimi K2.8 Preview can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

Kimi K2.8 Preview

Text
Images
Audio
Video

MAI-Thinking-1

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.

Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.

Kimi K2.8 Preview

Proprietary

Closed source

MAI-Thinking-1

Proprietary

Closed source

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Kimi K2.8 Preview was released on 2026-09-11, while MAI-Thinking-1 was released on 2026-06-02.

Kimi K2.8 Preview is 3 months newer than MAI-Thinking-1.

Kimi K2.8 Preview

Sep 11, 2026

3 days ago

3mo newer
MAI-Thinking-1

Jun 2, 2026

3 months ago

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→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Kimi K2.8 Preview and MAI-Thinking-1 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Kimi K2.8 Preview
✓ Preferred
MAI-Thinking-1
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about Kimi K2.8 Preview vs MAI-Thinking-1.

Which is better, Kimi K2.8 Preview or MAI-Thinking-1?

Kimi K2.8 Preview (Moonshot AI) and MAI-Thinking-1 (Microsoft) 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 K2.8 Preview compare to MAI-Thinking-1 in benchmarks?

MAI-Thinking-1 scores LongFact: 98.0%, AIME 2025: 97.0%, AIME 2026: 94.5%, GraphWalks: 90.0%, AIR-Bench: 88.0%.

What are the context window sizes for Kimi K2.8 Preview and MAI-Thinking-1?

Kimi K2.8 Preview supports 1.0M tokens and MAI-Thinking-1 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 K2.8 Preview and MAI-Thinking-1?

Key differences include multimodal support (yes vs no). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes Kimi K2.8 Preview and MAI-Thinking-1?

Kimi K2.8 Preview is developed by Moonshot AI and MAI-Thinking-1 is developed by Microsoft.

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