Model comparison
Inkling vs Kimi K2
Head-to-head evidence from 9 shared benchmark results across 3 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Verified leaderboard positions: Inkling #17; Kimi K2 unranked
BenchAlign evidence: Inkling not scored; Kimi K2 supported. Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. Inkling and Kimi K2 share 9 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 23 results are unique to Inkling; 6 to Kimi K2.
Updated July 16, 2026- Shared results
- 9
- Inkling only
- 23
- Kimi K2 only
- 6
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick Inkling 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 9 shared benchmark results across 3 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
Inkling is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 72 to 43. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
Inkling's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 97.1 against 16.1.
Inkling is also the more expensive model on tokens at $1.87 input / $4.68 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.60 input / $2.50 output per 1M tokens for Kimi K2. Kimi K2 is the reasoning model in the pair, while Inkling 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. Inkling 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 | Inkling | Δ | Kimi K2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math | Inkling97.1 | Margin← 81.0 | Kimi K216.1 |
| Agentic | Inkling69.4 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
| Coding | Inkling68.6 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
| Knowledge | Inkling51.7 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
| Multimodal | Inkling76.5 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
| Inst. Following | Inkling79.8 | MarginNo overlap | Kimi K2Not measured |
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | Inkling | Kimi K2 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | Inkling$1.87 input / $4.68 output | Kimi K2$0.6 input / $2.5 output | Kimi K2 has the lower combined listed price. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | InklingNot available | Kimi K243 tok/s | A complete speed comparison is not available. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | InklingNot available | Kimi K21.51 s | A complete latency comparison is not available. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | Inkling1M | Kimi K2128K | Inkling lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic10 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Inkling | Kimi K2 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 2.0Source | 63.8% | — | Not comparable |
| BrowseCompSource | 77.1% | — | Not comparable |
| MCP AtlasSource | 74.1% | — | Not comparable |
| Design Arena Agentic Web DevSource | 1258 | — | Not comparable |
| AA Agentic IndexSource | 32.3% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 36.9% | — | Not comparable |
| GDPval-AASource | 1239 | — | Not comparable |
| AA BriefcaseSource | 836 | — | Not comparable |
| AA Tau3 BankingSource | 23.7% | — | Not comparable |
| τ²-bench resultsSource | — | 61.1% | Not comparable |
Coding6 benchmarks
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge10 benchmarks
| Benchmark | Inkling | Kimi K2 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQASource | 87.9% | — | Not comparable |
| GPQA-DSource | 87.9% | — | Not comparable |
| HLESource | 46% | — | Not comparable |
| HLE w/o toolsSource | 30% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 40.7% | 19.4% | Inkling leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 87.2% | 76.6% | Inkling leads |
| AA-HLESource | 29.7% | 7.0% | Inkling leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | 2.1% | -27.5% | Inkling leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 40.0% | 26.8% | Inkling leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 63.1% | 74.2% | Inkling leads |
MathInkling wins3 benchmarks
Multimodal5 benchmarks
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, Inkling or Kimi K2?
Inkling is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 72 to 43.
Which is better for math, Inkling or Kimi K2?
Inkling has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 97.1 versus 16.1. Kimi K2 stays close enough that the answer can still flip depending on your workload.
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