AI model comparison
Kimi K2.6 vs Grok 4.20
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
xAI
Grok 4.20
Grok 4.20 is a reasoning model from SpaceXAI with industry-leading speed and agentic tool calling capabilities.
- Input / 1M
- $1.25
- Output / 1M
- $2.50
- Context
- 2M
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
Kimi K2.6
1.8x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
Kimi K2.6
27 vs 25.7 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Grok 4.20
2M vs 262K 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 Grok 4.20 API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | ||
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.43 | $1.25 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $2.45 | $2.50 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.11 | $0.20 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
| Long-context pricingPer 1M tokens, for very long prompts | Same rate at any length | $2.50 in / $5 out above 200K |
| Web searchPer request | Not available | $0.005 |
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 | 2M tokens |
| Max output | 236K tokens | 1.80M tokens |
| Input types | Image, Text | File, Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | April 20, 2026 | March 31, 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 | Not 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 GLM 5.1
- Kimi K2.6 vs MiMo-V2.5-Pro
- Kimi K2.6 vs Kimi K2.7 Code
- 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
- Grok 4.20 vs Grok Build 0.1
- Grok 4.20 vs Qwen3.6 Plus
- Grok 4.20 vs GLM 5 Turbo
- Grok 4.20 vs Gemini 3 Flash Preview
- Grok 4.20 vs GLM 5.1
- Grok 4.20 vs Kimi K2.7 Code
- Grok 4.20 vs Inkling Small
- Grok 4.20 vs Qwen3.7 Plus
- Grok 4.20 vs Inkling
- Grok 4.20 vs Grok 4.3
- Grok 4.20 vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423
- Grok 4.20 vs Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite
Our take
Kimi K2.6 is 1.8x cheaper for a typical chat. Kimi K2.6 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (27 vs 25.7). Grok 4.20 has the larger context window (2M vs 262K 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 Grok 4.20 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 Grok 4.20 costs $1.25 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, Kimi K2.6 or Grok 4.20?
Grok 4.20 supports up to 2M tokens of context, compared with 262K for Kimi K2.6.
Is Kimi K2.6 smarter than Grok 4.20?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Kimi K2.6 scores 27 and Grok 4.20 scores 25.7, 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 Grok 4.20 at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Kimi K2.6 and Grok 4.20 answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to Kimi K2.6 and Grok 4.20 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.