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  3. Kimi Chat 1.5 vs Kimi K2

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026

Kimi Chat 1.5 vs Kimi K2 benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, Kimi K2 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,465 vs 1,420), while Kimi K2 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (65.8%), while Kimi Chat 1.5 is more budget-friendly at $0.8/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose Kimi K2 if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose Kimi Chat 1.5 if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
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Verified Head-to-Head Advantage Breakdown

10 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

Kimi Chat 1.5 (5)Kimi K2 (5)
Kimi Chat 1.5
5 of 10 Wins
✓Time to first token✓Output speed✓Input price✓Output price✓Context window
Kimi K2
5 of 10 Wins
✓Preference Elo✓Coding Elo✓LiveBench✓SWE-bench✓GPQA Diamond
Moonshot
Leads 5 of 10 metrics
Kimi Chat 1.5

Moonshot ultra-long context model supporting up to 2 million tokens per request.

2M ContextElo 1,420$0.8/1M out
Moonshot
Leads 5 of 10 metrics
Kimi K2

Moonshot foundation model with strong native bilingual reasoning and 65.8% SWE-bench Verified coding baseline.

K2 BaseElo 1,465$1.4/1M out

Kimi Series Lineage & Sibling Variants

4 models

Currently comparing Kimi Chat 1.5 vs Kimi K2. Alternative family tiers available.

Active: Kimi Chat 1.5
Active: Kimi K2
Kimi K3$2.5Kimi K2.5 Max$2
Top Rival Showdowns for Kimi Chat 1.5
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5vs GPT-5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs DeepSeek V4 Pro
Preference LeaderKimi K2 Wins

Kimi K2

Δ 45 Arena Elo pts

Throughput LeaderKimi Chat 1.5 Wins

Kimi Chat 1.5

95 tok/s

Value per Dollar LeaderKimi Chat 1.5 Wins

Kimi Chat 1.5

$0.8 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect
Percentile 0–100
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

Kimi Chat 1.5 (5)vsKimi K2 (5)
Kimi Chat 1.5: 5W (50%)Overall: Even matchupKimi K2: 5W (50%)
← Kimi Chat 1.5Kimi K2 →
🏆Kimi K2(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Benchmark
Kimi Chat 1.5vsKimi K2
Preference Elo
1,420vs1,465+45
Coding Elo
1,390vs1,470+80
SWE-bench
51%vs65.8%+14.8%
LiveBench
58%vs62.8%+4.8%
GPQA Diamond
71.5%vs76.5%+5%
Kimi Chat 1.5: 0WKimi K2: 5W
🏆Kimi Chat 1.5(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark
Kimi Chat 1.5vsKimi K2
Output speed
95 tok/svs85 tok/s+10 tok/s
Time to first token
210 msvs240 ms+30 ms
Kimi Chat 1.5: 2WKimi K2: 0W
🏆Kimi Chat 1.5(3/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark
Kimi Chat 1.5vsKimi K2
Output price
$0.8/1Mvs$1.4/1M+$0.6/1M
Input price
$0.2/1Mvs$0.35/1M+$0.15/1M
Context window
2Mvs128k+1.9M
Kimi Chat 1.5: 3WKimi K2: 0W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo+45
Kimi Chat 1.51,420
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K21,465
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Coding Elo+80
Kimi Chat 1.51,390
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K21,470
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
LiveBench+4.8%
Kimi Chat 1.558%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K262.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
SWE-bench+14.8%
Kimi Chat 1.551%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K265.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPQA Diamond+5%
Kimi Chat 1.571.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K276.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Time to first token+30 ms
Kimi Chat 1.5210 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K2240 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output speed+10 tok/s
Kimi Chat 1.595 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K285 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Input price+$0.15/1M
Kimi Chat 1.5$0.2/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K2$0.35/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output price+$0.6/1M
Kimi Chat 1.5$0.8/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K2$1.4/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Context window+1.9M
Kimi Chat 1.52M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Kimi K2128k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
BenchmarkKimi Chat 1.5Kimi K2Advantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,420
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,465
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+45
Coding Elo
1,390
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
1,470
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+80
LiveBench
58%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
62.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+4.8%
SWE-bench
51%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
65.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+14.8%
GPQA Diamond
71.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
76.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+5%
Time to first token
210 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
240 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+30 ms
Output speed
95 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
85 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+10 tok/s
Input price
$0.2/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$0.35/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.15/1M
Output price
$0.8/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
$1.4/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.6/1M
Context window
2M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
128k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+1.9M
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 43% with Kimi Chat 1.5
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
Kimi Chat 1.5$19.00 / mo
In: $7Out: $12
Kimi K2$33.25 / mo
In: $12.25Out: $21
Estimated Cost Delta

Kimi Chat 1.5 is estimated to save $14.25/month ($171/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    Kimi K2:Pick Kimi K2 when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
  • 2
    Kimi Chat 1.5:Pick Kimi Chat 1.5 when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 3
    Kimi Chat 1.5:Pick Kimi Chat 1.5 when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsKimi K2

Higher SWE-bench (65.8%).

High-volume chatKimi Chat 1.5

Lower output list price ($0.8/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIKimi Chat 1.5

Lower TTFT (210 ms).

Long-document RAGKimi Chat 1.5

Larger window (2M).

Screenshots / visionKimi K2

Kimi K2 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsKimi K2Higher SWE-bench (65.8%).
High-volume chatKimi Chat 1.5Lower output list price ($0.8/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIKimi Chat 1.5Lower TTFT (210 ms).
Long-document RAGKimi Chat 1.5Larger window (2M).
Screenshots / visionKimi K2Kimi K2 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.
Community Sentiment

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK
VS
Moonshot

Kimi Chat 1.5

Elo 1,420
SWE-bench51%
Speed (tok/s)95 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.2/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$0.8/1M
Moonshot

Kimi K2

Elo 1,465
SWE-bench65.8%
Speed (tok/s)85 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.35/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$1.4/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Kimi Chat 1.5 or Kimi K2?
Kimi K2 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,465). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Kimi Chat 1.5 or Kimi K2?
Kimi K2 leads SWE-bench at 65.8% vs 51%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
Kimi Chat 1.5 output tokens are $0.8/1M versus $1.4/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Kimi Chat 1.5 or Kimi K2?
Kimi Chat 1.5 has the lower time-to-first-token (210 ms vs 240 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?
Kimi Chat 1.5 accepts 2M tokens versus 128k.
Can I self-host either model?
Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?
No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?
Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Kimi Chat 1.5 and Kimi K2 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Kimi Chat 1.5 matchups →|All Kimi K2 matchups →
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