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Model comparison

Kimi K2 vs o1

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 12 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

Moonshot AI
26.36/100
Margin
20.8pts
winning →
OpenAI
47.14/100
1 category wins0 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: Kimi K2 #199 (Supported); o1 #136 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. Kimi K2 and o1 share 12 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 2 results are unique to Kimi K2; 4 to o1.

Updated July 24, 2026
Shared results
12
Kimi K2 only
2
o1 only
4
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick o1 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Kimi K2 only becomes the better choice if mathematics is the priority or you want the cheaper token bill.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 12 shared benchmark results across 6 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

o1 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 47.14 to 26.36. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

o1 is also the more expensive model on tokens at $15.00 input / $60.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.60 input / $2.50 output per 1M tokens for Kimi K2. That is roughly 24.0x on output cost alone. o1 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. o1 gives you the larger context window at 200K, 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 scores and score margins for Kimi K2 and o1
CategoryKimi K2Δo1
MathKimi K216.1Margin 6.8o19.3
KnowledgeKimi K2Not measuredMarginNo overlapo175.7
Inst. FollowingKimi K2Not measuredMarginNo overlapo192.2

Decisive benchmark drivers

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

More
A · Kimi K2B · o1
  1. FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)

    Math
    Source ↗
    A 21.404%B 9.310%
    Winner: Kimi K2Δ 12.1
    FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3): Kimi K2 scored 21.404%; o1 scored 9.310%. Kimi K2 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

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

MetricKimi K2o1Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensKimi K2$0.6 input / $2.5 outputo1$15 input / $60 outputKimi K2 has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per secondKimi K243 tok/so198 tok/so1 has the higher measured throughput.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenKimi K21.51 so132.29 sKimi K2 reaches the first token sooner.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensKimi K2128Ko1200Ko1 lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
BenchmarkKimi K2o1Result
τ²-bench resultsSource 61.1%62.6%o1 leads
Coding
BenchmarkKimi K2o1Result
AA-SciCodeSource 34.5%35.8%o1 leads
AA Coding IndexSource 39.7%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkKimi K2o1Result
AA-LCRSource 51.0%59.3%o1 leads
CritPtSource 0.0%0.3%o1 leads
Knowledge
BenchmarkKimi K2o1Result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 19.4%23.4%o1 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 76.6%74.7%Kimi K2 leads
AA-HLESource 7.0%7.7%o1 leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -27.5%-10.5%o1 leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 26.8%34.7%o1 leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 74.2%69.3%o1 leads
MMLUSource 91.8%Not comparable
GPQASource 75.7%Not comparable
MathKimi K2 wins
BenchmarkKimi K2o1Result
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 21.404%9.310%Kimi K2 leads
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source 0.000%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkKimi K2o1Result
Design Arena WebsiteSource 1080Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkKimi K2o1Result
AA-IFBenchSource 41.5%70.3%o1 leads
IFEvalSource 92.2%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, Kimi K2 or o1?

o1 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 47.14 to 26.36. The biggest single separator in this matchup is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), where the scores are 21.404% and 9.310%.

Which is better for math, Kimi K2 or o1?

Kimi K2 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 16.1 versus 9.3. Inside this category, FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: July 24, 2026