AI model comparison
Kimi K2.6 vs GLM 5.1
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
Moonshot AI
Kimi K2.6
Kimi K2.6 is Moonshot AI's next-generation multimodal model, designed for long-horizon coding, coding-driven UI/UX generation, and multi-agent orchestration.
- Input / 1M
- $0.43
- Output / 1M
- $2.45
- Context
- 262K
Z.ai
GLM 5.1
GLM-5.1 delivers a major leap in coding capability, with particularly significant gains in handling long-horizon tasks.
- Input / 1M
- $0.97
- Output / 1M
- $3.04
- Context
- 205K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Kimi K2.6
1.6x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Kimi K2.6
27 vs 26.1 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Kimi K2.6
262K vs 205K tokens
Newer release
Kimi K2.6
Released April 20, 2026
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
Coding index
Agentic index
Pricing
Kimi K2.6 vs GLM 5.1 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.43 | $0.97 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $2.45 | $3.04 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.11 | $0.18 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
Coding task
30K in, 4K out
Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 262K tokens | 205K tokens |
| Max output | 236K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | April 20, 2026 | April 7, 2026 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Supported | Supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
- Kimi K2.6 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Kimi K2.6 vs MiniMax M3
- Kimi K2.6 vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview
- Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen3.7 Max
- Kimi K2.6 vs GLM 5
- Kimi K2.6 vs Grok Build 0.1
- Kimi K2.6 vs Qwen3.6 Plus
- Kimi K2.6 vs GLM 5 Turbo
- Kimi K2.6 vs MiMo-V2.5-Pro
- Kimi K2.6 vs Kimi K2.7 Code
- Kimi K2.6 vs Grok 4.20
- Kimi K2.6 vs Inkling Small
- Kimi K2.6 vs Inkling
- Kimi K2.6 vs Grok 4.3
- Kimi K2.6 vs Kimi K2.5
- Kimi K2.6 vs Kimi K2 Thinking
Our take
Kimi K2.6 is 1.6x cheaper for a typical chat. Kimi K2.6 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (27 vs 26.1). Kimi K2.6 has the larger context window (262K vs 205K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is Kimi K2.6 or GLM 5.1 cheaper?
Kimi K2.6 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Kimi K2.6 costs $0.43 per 1M input tokens and $2.45 per 1M output tokens, while GLM 5.1 costs $0.97 per 1M input tokens and $3.04 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Kimi K2.6 or GLM 5.1?
Kimi K2.6 supports up to 262K tokens of context, compared with 205K for GLM 5.1.
Is Kimi K2.6 smarter than GLM 5.1?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Kimi K2.6 scores 27 and GLM 5.1 scores 26.1, putting Kimi K2.6 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use Kimi K2.6 and GLM 5.1 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Kimi K2.6 and GLM 5.1 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Kimi K2.6 and GLM 5.1 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.