Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs Kimi K2.6
Detailed comparison of API pricing, technical specifications, and benchmark scores. Updated 2026-06-29.
Cost at a Glance
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is 3.5× more expensive than Kimi K2.6 — switching could save 71.7% on your monthly API bill.
At 5M input + 2M output tokens per month:
Choosing Kimi K2.6 could save you $32.25/mo
Price Comparison (per 1M tokens)
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Input (per 1M tokens) | $3.00 | $0.95 |
| Output (per 1M tokens) | $15.00 | $4.00 |
| Cache Write (per 1M tokens) | $3.75 | — |
| Cache Read (per 1M tokens) | $0.30 | — |
| Batch Input (per 1M tokens) | $1.50 | — |
| Batch Output (per 1M tokens) | $7.50 | — |
Prices are per 1 million tokens. Actual costs depend on your monthly token volume. Use the calculator →
Specifications
| Spec | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 1M | 262K |
| Max Output Tokens | 128K | 64K |
| Knowledge Cutoff | 2026-03 | 2026-04 |
| Modalities | Text, Image | Text |
| Prompt Caching | Yes | No |
| Batch API | Yes | No |
| Thinking / Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
Benchmark Scores
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 79.6 | 80.2 |
| MMLU-Pro | 85.2 | 83.0 |
| HumanEval | 94.1 | 92.5 |
Benchmark scores from official provider reports. Higher is better. Missing scores indicate the provider has not published that benchmark yet.
Use Cases
Claude Sonnet 4.6
Kimi K2.6
About the Providers
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is developed by Anthropic. Kimi K2.6 is developed by Moonshot AI. This is a cross-provider comparison between Anthropic and Moonshot AI models. For the most up-to-date pricing, always check the official API documentation from each provider.