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Model comparison

Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3 235B 2507

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 2 shared benchmark results across 1 category. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

59.35/100
Margin
3.3pts
← winning
56.02/100
1 category wins0 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) #57 (Estimated); Qwen3 235B 2507 #78 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) and Qwen3 235B 2507 share 2 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 25 results are unique to Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning); 2 to Qwen3 235B 2507.

Updated July 20, 2026
Shared results
2
Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) only
25
Qwen3 235B 2507 only
2
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen3 235B 2507 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 2 shared benchmark results across 1 evidence category; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 59.35 to 56.02. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning)'s sharpest advantage is in knowledge, where it averages 87.2 against 78.9. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is GPQA, 87.6% to 77.5%.

Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) is also the more expensive model on tokens at $0.60 input / $3.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.00 input / $0.00 output per 1M tokens for Qwen3 235B 2507. That is roughly Infinityx on output cost alone. Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) is the reasoning model in the pair, while Qwen3 235B 2507 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.

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 scores and score margins for Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) and Qwen3 235B 2507
CategoryKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)ΔQwen3 235B 2507
KnowledgeKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)87.2Margin 8.3Qwen3 235B 250778.9
AgenticKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)55.0MarginNo overlapQwen3 235B 2507Not measured
CodingKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)76.8MarginNo overlapQwen3 235B 2507Not measured
MultilingualKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Not measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3 235B 250779.4
MultimodalKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)78.5MarginNo overlapQwen3 235B 2507Not measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning)B · Qwen3 235B 2507
  1. GPQA

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 87.6%B 77.5%
    Winner: Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Δ 10.1
    GPQA: Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) scored 87.6%; Qwen3 235B 2507 scored 77.5%. Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) wins this benchmark.
  2. MMLU-Pro

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 87.1%B 83%
    Winner: Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Δ 4.1
    MMLU-Pro: Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) scored 87.1%; Qwen3 235B 2507 scored 83%. Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)$0.6 input / $3 outputQwen3 235B 2507$0 input / $0 outputQwen3 235B 2507 has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Not availableQwen3 235B 2507Not availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Not availableQwen3 235B 2507Not availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)128KQwen3 235B 2507128KListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Result
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 50.8%Not comparable
BrowseCompSource 60.6%Not comparable
APEX-Agents-AASource 11.5%Not comparable
τ²-bench resultsSource 95.9%Not comparable
Gert LabsSource 32.58%Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 21.7%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 25.4%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1009Not comparable
Coding
BenchmarkKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Result
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 76.8%Not comparable
Vibe Code BenchSource 17.54%Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 49.0%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 46.8%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Result
AA-LCRSource 65.3%Not comparable
CritPtSource 3.1%Not comparable
KnowledgeKimi K2.5 (Reasoning) wins
BenchmarkKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Result
GPQASource 87.6%77.5%Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) leads
MMLU-ProSource 87.1%83%Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) leads
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 35.4%Not comparable
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 87.9%Not comparable
AA-HLESource 29.4%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -8.1%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 34.3%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 64.6%Not comparable
SuperGPQASource 62.6%Not comparable
Math
BenchmarkKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Result
AIME 2025Source 96.1%Not comparable
Multilingual
BenchmarkKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Result
MMLU-ProXSource 79.4%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Result
MMMU-ProSource 78.5%Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 75.4%Not comparable
Design Arena WebsiteSource 1282Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkKimi K2.5 (Reasoning)Qwen3 235B 2507Result
AA-IFBenchSource 70.2%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) or Qwen3 235B 2507?

Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 59.35 to 56.02. The biggest single separator in this matchup is GPQA, where the scores are 87.6% and 77.5%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) or Qwen3 235B 2507?

Kimi K2.5 (Reasoning) has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 87.2 versus 78.9. Inside this category, GPQA is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: July 20, 2026

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