Model Comparison

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Kimi K2.6Which is better in 2026?

Kimi K2.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Verdict: Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Kimi K2.6 — which is better?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B (by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team) and Kimi K2.6 (by Moonshot AI) 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.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Kimi K2.6 is better at 17 benchmarks (AIME 2026, CharXiv-R, Claw-Eval, GDPval-AA, GPQA, HMMT Feb 26, Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench, LiveCodeBench v6, MCP-Mark, MMMU-Pro, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Pro, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0, Toolathlon, WideSearch). Kimi K2.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Choose Qwen3.6-35B-A3B if…

  • you are already invested in the Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team ecosystem

Choose Kimi K2.6 if…

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 17 of 17 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2026

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

17 benchmarks

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B outperforms in 0 benchmarks, while Kimi K2.6 is better at 17 benchmarks (AIME 2026, CharXiv-R, Claw-Eval, GDPval-AA, GPQA, HMMT Feb 26, Humanity's Last Exam, IMO-AnswerBench, LiveCodeBench v6, MCP-Mark, MMMU-Pro, SWE-bench Multilingual, SWE-Bench Pro, SWE-Bench Verified, Terminal-Bench 2.0, Toolathlon, WideSearch).

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

965.0B diff

Kimi K2.6 has 965.0B more parameters than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B, making it 2757.1% larger.

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
35.0Bparameters
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.6
1.0Tparameters
35.0B
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
1000.0B
Kimi K2.6

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).

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.6
Input262,144 tokens
Output131,072 tokens
Fri Jul 17 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Both Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Kimi K2.6 support multimodal inputs.

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

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Kimi K2.6

Text
Images
Audio
Video

License

Usage and distribution terms

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is licensed under Apache 2.0, while Kimi K2.6 uses Modified MIT License.

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

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Apache 2.0

Open weights

Kimi K2.6

Modified MIT License

Open weights

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B was released on 2026-04-16, while Kimi K2.6 was released on 2026-04-20.

Kimi K2.6 is 0 month newer than Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Apr 16, 2026

3 months ago

Kimi K2.6

Apr 20, 2026

2 months ago

4d 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

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

View details

Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team

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

Moonshot AI
Larger context window (262,144 tokens)
Higher AIME 2026 score (96.4% vs 92.7%)
Higher CharXiv-R score (86.7% vs 78.0%)
Higher Claw-Eval score (80.9% vs 50.0%)
Higher GDPval-AA score (40.1% vs 35.2%)
Higher GPQA score (90.5% vs 86.0%)
Higher HMMT Feb 26 score (92.7% vs 83.6%)
Higher Humanity's Last Exam score (36.4% vs 21.4%)
Higher IMO-AnswerBench score (86.0% vs 78.9%)
Higher LiveCodeBench v6 score (89.6% vs 80.4%)
Higher MCP-Mark score (55.9% vs 37.0%)
Higher MMMU-Pro score (80.1% vs 75.3%)
Higher SWE-bench Multilingual score (76.7% vs 67.2%)
Higher SWE-Bench Pro score (58.6% vs 49.5%)
Higher SWE-Bench Verified score (80.2% vs 73.4%)
Higher Terminal-Bench 2.0 score (66.7% vs 51.5%)
Higher Toolathlon score (50.0% vs 26.9%)
Higher WideSearch score (80.8% vs 60.1%)

Detailed Comparison

Interactive Arena

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Kimi K2.6 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
✓ Preferred
Kimi K2.6
Open in Playground
AI Model Comparison Table
Feature
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.6

FAQ

Common questions about Qwen3.6-35B-A3B vs Kimi K2.6.

Which is better, Qwen3.6-35B-A3B or Kimi K2.6?

Kimi K2.6 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Kimi K2.6 is made by Moonshot AI. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does Qwen3.6-35B-A3B compare to Kimi K2.6 in benchmarks?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B scores MMLU-Redux: 93.3%, MMBench-V1.1: 92.8%, AI2D: 92.7%, AIME 2026: 92.7%, RefCOCO-avg: 92.0%. 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 Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Kimi K2.6?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B supports an unknown number of tokens and Kimi K2.6 supports 262K tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Kimi K2.6?

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

Who makes Qwen3.6-35B-A3B and Kimi K2.6?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team and Kimi K2.6 is developed by Moonshot AI.

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