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DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) vs Kimi K2.5

Head-to-head comparison across 3benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)

87

VS

Kimi K2.5

64

3 categoriesvs0 categories

Verified leaderboard positions: DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) #2 · Kimi K2.5 #11

Pick DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Kimi K2.5 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.

Category Radar

Head-to-Head by Category

Category Breakdown

Agentic

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)
74vs54.6

+19.4 difference

Coding

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)
75.9vs64.2

+11.7 difference

Knowledge

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)
66.1vs65.1

+1.0 difference

Operational Comparison

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)

Kimi K2.5

Price (per 1M tokens)

$1.74 / $3.48

$0.6 / $3

Speed

N/A

45 t/s

Latency (TTFT)

N/A

2.38s

Context Window

1M

256K

Quick Verdict

Pick DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Kimi K2.5 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.

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 87 to 64. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)'s sharpest advantage is in agentic, where it averages 74 against 54.6. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is BrowseComp, 83.4% to 60.6%.

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.74 input / $3.48 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.60 input / $3.00 output per 1M tokens for Kimi K2.5. DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) is the reasoning model in the pair, while Kimi K2.5 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. DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 256K for Kimi K2.5.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Frequently Asked Questions (4)

Which is better, DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) or Kimi K2.5?

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 87 to 64. The biggest single separator in this matchup is BrowseComp, where the scores are 83.4% and 60.6%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) or Kimi K2.5?

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 66.1 versus 65.1. Inside this category, HLE is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) or Kimi K2.5?

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 75.9 versus 64.2. Inside this category, LiveCodeBench is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) or Kimi K2.5?

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 74 versus 54.6. Inside this category, MCP Atlas is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Self-host vs API cost

Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.

DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max)
API / mo$3,915
Self-host / moN/A
Break-even
Proprietary model — self-hosting not applicable.
Kimi K2.5
API / mo$2,700
Self-host / mo$5,221
Break-even132M/day
Model the full break-even

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Last updated: April 24, 2026

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