Model comparison
Claude Opus 4.8 vs Kimi K2
Head-to-head evidence from 15 shared benchmark results across 7 categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.
Verified leaderboard positions: Claude Opus 4.8 #3; Kimi K2 unranked
Evidence parity. Claude Opus 4.8 and Kimi K2 share 15 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 38 results are unique to Claude Opus 4.8; 0 to Kimi K2.
Updated July 12, 2026- Shared results
- 15
- Claude Opus 4.8 only
- 38
- Kimi K2 only
- 0
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick Claude Opus 4.8 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Kimi K2 only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill or you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 15 shared benchmark results across 7 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
Claude Opus 4.8 is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 85 to 43. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Claude Opus 4.8's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 53.9 against 16.1. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4), 31.250% to 0.000%.
Claude Opus 4.8 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $5.00 input / $25.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.60 input / $2.50 output per 1M tokens for Kimi K2. That is roughly 10.0x on output cost alone. Claude Opus 4.8 is the reasoning model in the pair, while Kimi K2 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Claude Opus 4.8 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 128K for Kimi K2.
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | Claude Opus 4.8 | Δ | Kimi K2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Claude Opus 4.853.9 | Margin← 37.8 | Kimi K216.1 |
| Agentic | Claude Opus 4.880.3 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
| Coding | Claude Opus 4.876.4 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
| Knowledge | Claude Opus 4.862.7 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
| Multimodal | Claude Opus 4.877.0 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)
MathA 31.250%B 0.000%Winner: Claude Opus 4.8Δ 31.3FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4): Claude Opus 4.8 scored 31.250%; Kimi K2 scored 0.000%. Claude Opus 4.8 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)
MathA 47.241%B 21.404%Winner: Claude Opus 4.8Δ 25.8FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3): Claude Opus 4.8 scored 47.241%; Kimi K2 scored 21.404%. Claude Opus 4.8 wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Claude Opus 4.8 | Kimi K2 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Claude Opus 4.8$5 input / $25 output | Kimi K2$0.6 input / $2.5 output | Kimi K2 has the lower combined listed price. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | Claude Opus 4.8Not available | Kimi K243 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | Claude Opus 4.8Not available | Kimi K21.51 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Claude Opus 4.81M | Kimi K2128K | Claude Opus 4.8 lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic19 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.8 | Kimi K2 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 74.6% | — | Not comparable |
| BrowseCompSource | 84.3% | — | Not comparable |
| DeepSearchQASource | 93.1% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld-VerifiedSource | 83.4% | — | Not comparable |
| Finance Agent v2Source | 53.9% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 1600 | — | Not comparable |
| MCP AtlasSource | 82.2% | — | Not comparable |
| ToolathlonSource | 59.9% | — | Not comparable |
| Gert LabsSource | 72.97% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | 47.2% | — | Not comparable |
| Tau2-TelecomSource | 94.4% | 61.1% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
| GDPval-AASource | 55.0% | — | Not comparable |
| ResearchClawBenchSource | 21.1% | — | Not comparable |
| OSWorld 2.0Source | 20.6% | — | Not comparable |
| AA BriefcaseSource | 1354 | — | Not comparable |
| AA AutomationBenchSource | 48.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA EnterpriseOps-GymSource | 44.0% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Harvey LABSource | 7.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Tau3 BankingSource | 27.6% | — | Not comparable |
Coding12 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.8 | Kimi K2 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench VerifiedSource | 88.6% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE-bench ProSource | 69.2% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE MultilingualSource | 84.4% | — | Not comparable |
| SWE MultimodalSource | 38.4% | — | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 74.6% | — | Not comparable |
| cursorBench31Source | 58.4% | — | Not comparable |
| cursorBench32Source | 62.3% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Coding IndexSource | 74.3% | — | Not comparable |
| Terminal-Bench HardSource | 58.3% | 15.9% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
| AA-SciCodeSource | 53.5% | 34.5% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
| FrontierCodeSource | 46.5% | — | Not comparable |
| AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Source | 84.6% | — | Not comparable |
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge10 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.8 | Kimi K2 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 93.6% | — | Not comparable |
| GPQA-DSource | 93.6% | — | Not comparable |
| HLESource | 57.9% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | 49.8% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 55.7% | 19.4% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 92.0% | 76.6% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
| AA-HLESource | 45.7% | 7.0% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | 27.4% | -27.5% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 46.6% | 26.8% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 35.9% | 74.2% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
MathClaude Opus 4.8 wins3 benchmarks
Multilingual1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.8 | Kimi K2 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| INCLUDESource | 87.6% | — | Not comparable |
Multimodal5 benchmarks
Inst. Following1 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Opus 4.8 | Kimi K2 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA-IFBenchSource | 62.2% | 41.5% | Claude Opus 4.8 leads |
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Claude Opus 4.8 or Kimi K2?
Claude Opus 4.8 is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 85 to 43. The biggest single separator in this matchup is FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4), where the scores are 31.250% and 0.000%.
Which is better for math, Claude Opus 4.8 or Kimi K2?
Claude Opus 4.8 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 53.9 versus 16.1. Inside this category, FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4) is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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