Kimi K2.6 API pricing
Official Kimi list price, last checked Oct 29, 2026. Updated Oct 29, 2026.
Kimi K2.6 costs $0.95 per 1M input tokens and $4 per 1M output tokens, cached input at $0.16, and a 262K-token context window, per Kimi's official pricing page (checked Oct 29, 2026). It's priced in the middle of the pack: number 48 of 77 by blended price ($1.71 per 1M tokens at a 3 to 1 input to output mix). On LMArena's Code Arena it ranks #31 of 50 models we price (relative score 0 out of 100). Cheaper pick: MiMo-V2.6 Flash scores 36 against 0 on the same board at $0.175 blended, 9.8x less.
Kimi K2.6 price per million tokens
| Kimi K2.6 price per million tokens | USD |
|---|---|
| Input | $0.95 |
| Cached input | $0.16 |
| Output | $4 |
| Blended, 3 parts input to 1 part output | $1.71 |
| Context window | 262K tokens |
Official note from Kimi: Closed to new sign-ups from Oct 31, 2026. Moonshot plans to retire the K2 series by the end of December 2026.
What Kimi K2.6 costs for real work
List-price estimates for a month, no discounts. Our math, not a quote: change the token counts in the plan vs API calculator.
| Workload | Tokens a month | Kimi K2.6 | Grok 4.3 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light: a side project or personal assistant | 2M in, 0.5M out | $3.90 | $3.75 | $1.20 |
| Medium: a small team or one product feature | 20M in, 5M out | $39.00 | $37.50 | $12.00 |
| Heavy: a production app | 200M in, 50M out | $390 | $375 | $120 |
| Medium with 80% of input cached | 20M in (16M cached), 5M out | $26.36 | $20.70 | $7.30 |
How Kimi K2.6 ranks on LMArena
Relative score: 100 is the top model we price on that board. Rank is among the models in our price table, not the full leaderboard.
| Board | Rank | Score /100 |
|---|---|---|
| Coding (Code Arena) | #31 of 50 | 0 |
| Chat (Text Arena) | #24 of 51 | 0 |
| Creative writing (Text Arena creative writing) | #26 of 51 | 0 |
| Roleplay and characters (Text Arena multi-turn) | #28 of 51 | 0 |
| Reasoning and math (Text Arena math) | #23 of 51 | 7 |
| Vision (Vision Arena) | #17 of 33 | 21 |
| Long documents (Document Arena) | #10 of 11 | 54 |
Closest rivals to Kimi K2.6
The models nearest in price, other makers first. Ranks are on Code Arena, where we have them.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grok 4.3 | $1.25 / $2.50 | $1.56 | Grok 4.3 wins: cheaper, same score. Compare |
| GLM-5 | $1 / $3.20 | $1.55 | GLM-5 wins: cheaper, same score. Compare |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $0.75 / $3.75 | $1.50 | Gemini 3.8 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro | $1.32 / $3.96 | $1.98 | Kimi K2.6 wins: cheaper, same score. Compare |
Cheaper alternatives to Kimi K2.6
At least 40% cheaper blended, best LMArena score first.
| Model | In / out | Blended | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | $0.30 / $1.20 | $0.525 | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| MiMo-V2.6 Flash | $0.14 / $0.28 | $0.175 | MiMo-V2.6 Flash wins on both. Compare |
| MiMo-V2.6 Pro | $0.435 / $0.87 | $0.5437 | MiMo-V2.6 Pro wins on both. Compare |
More from Kimi
- Kimi K2.7 Code$0.95 in, $4 out per 1M
- Kimi K2.7 Code Highspeed$1.90 in, $8 out per 1M
- Kimi K3.1 Pro$2 in, $10 out per 1M
- Kimi K3$3 in, $15 out per 1M
- Kimi K3.1 Pro Highspeed$4 in, $20 out per 1M
FAQ
How much does the Kimi K2.6 API cost per million tokens?
$0.95 per 1M input tokens and $4 per 1M output tokens, plus $0.16 per 1M for cached input, as of Oct 29, 2026. A typical 3 to 1 input to output mix works out to $1.71 per 1M tokens.
Does Kimi K2.6 charge more for long prompts?
Kimi doesn't list a long-prompt surcharge for Kimi K2.6. Its pricing note says: Closed to new sign-ups from Oct 31, 2026. Moonshot plans to retire the K2 series by the end of December 2026.
Is Kimi K2.6 cheaper than Grok 4.3?
No. A medium month (20M input and 5M output tokens) costs $39.00 on Kimi K2.6 and $37.50 on Grok 4.3 at list price. On Code Arena, Kimi K2.6 ranks #31 and Grok 4.3 #46.
How does Kimi K2.6 rank on LMArena?
On Code Arena it is #31 of 50 models we price, with a relative score of 0 out of 100. It ranks on 7 of 8 boards we track.
What is a cheaper alternative to Kimi K2.6?
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash costs $0.30 in and $1.20 out per 1M tokens, about 3.3x less blended, and scores 46 on Code Arena against 0 for Kimi K2.6.
Where does this Kimi K2.6 price come from?
From Kimi's official pricing page, which we check every day. This page was last checked Oct 29, 2026.