Kimi has launched a newer model, Kimi K2.5, we suggest considering this model instead.
For more information, see Comparison of Kimi K2.5 to other models and API provider benchmarks for Kimi K2.5.
Kimi K2 Thinking Intelligence, Performance & Price Analysis
Model summary
Intelligence
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Speed
Output tokens per second
Input Price
USD per 1M tokens
Output Price
USD per 1M tokens
Verbosity
Output tokens from Intelligence Index
Metrics are compared against models of the same class:
- Non-reasoning models → compared only with other non-reasoning models
- Reasoning models → compared across both reasoning and non-reasoning
- Open weights models → compared only with other open weights models of the same size class:
- Tiny: ≤4B parameters
- Small: 4B–40B parameters
- Medium: 40B–150B parameters
- Large: >150B parameters
- Proprietary models → compared across proprietary and open weights models of the same price range, using a blended 3:1 input/output price ratio:
- <$0.15 per 1M tokens
- $0.15–$1 per 1M tokens
- >$1 per 1M tokens
| Reasoning | Yes This page shows the reasoning version of this model. A non-reasoning variant may also exist. |
|---|---|
| Input modality | Supports: text |
| Output modality | Supports: text |
| Context window | 256k ~384 A4 pages of size 12 Arial font |
| Total parameters | 1000B |
| Active parameters | 32B Number of parameters active per token during inference |
| License | Modified MIT License |
| Model weights | Hugging Face |
Kimi K2 Thinking is amongst the leading models in intelligence, but somewhat expensive when comparing to other open weight models of similar size. It's also notably fast, however very verbose. The model supports text input, outputs text, and has a 256k tokens context window.
Kimi K2 Thinking scores 41 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it well above average among comparable models (averaging 27). When evaluating the Intelligence Index, it generated 100M tokens, which is very verbose in comparison to the average of 17M.
Pricing for Kimi K2 Thinking is $0.60 per 1M input tokens (somewhat expensive, average: $0.55) and $2.50 per 1M output tokens (somewhat expensive, average: $1.70). In total, it cost $308.15 to evaluate Kimi K2 Thinking on the Intelligence Index.
At 105 tokens per second, Kimi K2 Thinking is notably fast (55).
Intelligence
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index by Open Weights / Proprietary
Intelligence Evaluations
Openness
Artificial Analysis Openness Index: Results
Intelligence Index Comparisons
Intelligence vs. Price
Intelligence Index Token Use & Cost
Output Tokens Used to Run Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Cost to Run Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Context Window
Context Window
Pricing
Pricing: Input and Output Prices
Intelligence vs. Price (Log Scale)
Pricing Comparison of Kimi K2 Thinking API Providers
Speed
Measured by Output Speed (tokens per second)
Output Speed
Output Speed vs. Price
Latency
Measured by Time (seconds) to First Token
Latency: Time To First Answer Token
End-to-End Response Time
Seconds to output 500 Tokens, calculated based on time to first token, 'thinking' time for reasoning models, and output speed
End-to-End Response Time
Model Size (Open Weights Models Only)
Model Size: Total and Active Parameters
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking was released on November 6, 2025.
Kimi K2 Thinking was created by Kimi.
Kimi K2 Thinking scores 41 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, placing it well above average among other open weight models of similar size (median: 27).
Kimi K2 Thinking generates output at 105.1 tokens per second (based on the median across providers serving the model), which is well above average compared to other open weight models of similar size (median: 55.0 t/s).
Kimi K2 Thinking has a time to first token (TTFT) of 1.28s (based on the median across providers serving the model), which is very competitive compared to other open weight models of similar size (median: 2.20s).
Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 per 1M input tokens (better than average, median: $0.60) and $2.50 per 1M output tokens (somewhat higher than average, median: $2.20), based on the median across providers serving the model.
Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens (based on the median across providers serving the model). For a blended rate (3:1 input to output ratio), this is $1.07 per 1M tokens. Pricing may vary by provider. Compare provider pricing
When evaluated on the Intelligence Index, Kimi K2 Thinking generated 100M output tokens, which is at the higher end compared to other open weight models of similar size (median: 17M).
Yes, Kimi K2 Thinking is a reasoning model. It uses extended thinking or chain-of-thought reasoning to work through complex problems before providing an answer.
Kimi K2 Thinking supports text input.
Kimi K2 Thinking supports text output.
No, Kimi K2 Thinking does not support image input. It can only process text.
No, Kimi K2 Thinking is not multimodal. It only supports text input.
Kimi K2 Thinking has a context window of 260k tokens. This determines how much text and conversation history the model can process in a single request.
Yes, Kimi K2 Thinking is open weights. The model weights are publicly available and can be downloaded for self-hosting.
Kimi K2 Thinking has 1 trillion parameters (32 billion active).
Kimi K2 Thinking is a Mixture of Experts (MoE) model with 1 trillion total parameters, but only 32 billion active parameters are used during inference.
Kimi K2 Thinking is released under the Modified MIT License license. This license allows commercial use. View license
Kimi K2 Thinking achieves a score of 41 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. This composite benchmark evaluates models across reasoning, knowledge, mathematics, and coding.
Yes, Kimi K2 Thinking is available via API through 8 providers. Compare API providers
Kimi K2 Thinking is available through 8 API providers. Compare providers