AI model comparison

Qwen3.5 397B A17B vs Kimi K2 Thinking

Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.

The Qwen3.5 series 397B-A17B native vision-language model is built on a hybrid architecture that integrates a linear attention mechanism with a sparse mixture-of-experts model, achieving higher inference efficiency.

Input / 1M
$0.55
Output / 1M
$3.50
Context
262K
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Moonshot AI

Kimi K2 Thinking

Kimi K2 Thinking is Moonshot AI’s most advanced open reasoning model to date, extending the K2 series into agentic, long-horizon reasoning.

Input / 1M
$0.60
Output / 1M
$2.50
Context
262K

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

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Kimi K2 Thinking

1.2x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

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Kimi K2 Thinking

22 vs 21.4 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

Tie

262K vs 262K tokens

Newer release

qwen logo

Qwen3.5 397B A17B

Released February 16, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

qwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17B21.4
moonshotai logoKimi K2 Thinking22

Coding index

qwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17BNot available
moonshotai logoKimi K2 ThinkingNot available

Agentic index

qwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17BNot available
moonshotai logoKimi K2 ThinkingNot available

Pricing

Qwen3.5 397B A17B vs Kimi K2 Thinking API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricqwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17Bmoonshotai logoKimi K2 Thinking
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$0.55$0.60
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$3.50$2.50
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens$0.22$0.15
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot availableNot 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

qwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17B$2.85
moonshotai logoKimi K2 Thinking$2.45

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

qwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17B$30.50$20.75 cached
moonshotai logoKimi K2 Thinking$28$14.50 cached

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

qwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17B$89.50$40.75 cached
moonshotai logoKimi K2 Thinking$95$27.50 cached

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricqwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17Bmoonshotai logoKimi K2 Thinking
Context window262K tokens262K tokens
Max output236K tokens98K tokens
Input typesImage, Text, VideoText
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsNot availableNot available
Default reasoning effortNot availableNot available
Release dateFebruary 16, 2026November 6, 2025

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricqwen logoQwen3.5 397B A17Bmoonshotai logoKimi K2 Thinking
Tool callingSupportedSupported
Structured outputsSupportedSupported
JSON modeSupportedSupported
ReasoningSupportedSupported
TemperatureSupportedSupported
Stop sequencesSupportedSupported
Deterministic seedSupportedSupported
Verbosity controlNot supportedNot supported

Our take

Kimi K2 Thinking is 1.2x cheaper for a typical chat. Kimi K2 Thinking scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (22 vs 21.4). 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 Qwen3.5 397B A17B or Kimi K2 Thinking cheaper?

Kimi K2 Thinking is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 per 1M input tokens and $2.50 per 1M output tokens, while Qwen3.5 397B A17B costs $0.55 per 1M input tokens and $3.50 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, Qwen3.5 397B A17B or Kimi K2 Thinking?

Qwen3.5 397B A17B supports up to 262K tokens of context, compared with 262K for Kimi K2 Thinking.

Is Qwen3.5 397B A17B smarter than Kimi K2 Thinking?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, Qwen3.5 397B A17B scores 21.4 and Kimi K2 Thinking scores 22, putting Kimi K2 Thinking ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use Qwen3.5 397B A17B and Kimi K2 Thinking at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see Qwen3.5 397B A17B and Kimi K2 Thinking answer side by side and keep the better response.

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Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to Qwen3.5 397B A17B and Kimi K2 Thinking at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.