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Head-to-head comparison

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Kimi K2 Thinking

Mistral Medium 3.5 (Mistral AI) and Kimi K2 Thinking (Moonshot AI) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 18 August 2026

As of 18 August 2026, Kimi K2 Thinking holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#32 vs #38); and Kimi K2 Thinking is 3× cheaper per output token ($2.50/1M vs $7.50/1M).

Which should you choose?

Choose Mistral Medium 3.5 if…

  • you want the more recently listed model — Mistral Medium 3.5 was listed 30 April 2026, Kimi K2 Thinking 6 November 2025.

Choose Kimi K2 Thinking if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #32 against #38 (58.5 vs 53.9 points).
  • API cost matters — $2.50/1M output tokens against $7.50/1M, about 3× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.60/1M against $1.50/1M.
  • you want provider choice — 2 listed API providers against 1.
  • Arena coding is your yardstick — 1486 against 1479.
  • Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is your yardstick — 33.5 against 30.4.

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Kimi K2 Thinking: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Mistral Medium 3.5 and Kimi K2 Thinking
FieldMistral Medium 3.5Mistral AIKimi K2 ThinkingMoonshot AI
ModelCap Index position#38#32
Index score53.958.5
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$1.50$0.60
Output price / 1M tokens$7.50$2.50
Context window262K tokens262K tokens
Max output tokens—100K
API providers listed12
Weight accessAPI onlyRestricted license
Input modalitiesText, Image, FileText
First listed30 April 20266 November 2025
PublisherMistral AIMoonshot AI

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · 3 public benchmark observations across 3 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Kimi K2 Thinking

Public benchmark boards where Mistral Medium 3.5 or Kimi K2 Thinking has a published result
BoardMistral Medium 3.5Kimi K2 ThinkingLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)14791468–149014861481–1492TurboKimi K2 Thinking
LMArena AgentLMArena-7.0%-9.0%–-5.0%—Only one result
SWE-benchSWE-bench (Princeton / SWE-agent team)—63.4%ThinkingOnly one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis30.4intelligence-index33.5intelligence-indexKimi K2 Thinking

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Kimi K2 Thinking: common questions

Is Mistral Medium 3.5 better than Kimi K2 Thinking?

Kimi K2 Thinking ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 18 August 2026: #32 against #38. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Mistral Medium 3.5 cheaper than Kimi K2 Thinking?

Kimi K2 Thinking is cheaper on output tokens: $2.50/1M against $7.50/1M. Input tokens are $1.50/1M for Mistral Medium 3.5 and $0.60/1M for Kimi K2 Thinking. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Mistral Medium 3.5 or Kimi K2 Thinking?

Both publish a 262K-token context window.

Which is better for coding, Mistral Medium 3.5 or Kimi K2 Thinking?

Arena coding: Mistral Medium 3.5 1479, Kimi K2 Thinking 1486 — Kimi K2 Thinking leads.

Are Mistral Medium 3.5 and Kimi K2 Thinking open-weight models?

Mistral Medium 3.5: API only. Kimi K2 Thinking: Restricted license. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Mistral Medium 3.5 and Kimi K2 Thinking?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Mistral Medium 3.5 and 2 for Kimi K2 Thinking, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Mistral Medium 3.5 vs Kimi K2 Thinking comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 18 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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