Kimi K2.6 vs MiniMax M3
Detailed comparison of API pricing, technical specifications, and benchmark scores. Updated 2026-06-29.
Cost at a Glance
Kimi K2.6 is 3.3× more expensive than MiniMax M3 — switching could save 69.4% on your monthly API bill.
At 5M input + 2M output tokens per month:
Choosing MiniMax M3 could save you $8.85/mo
Price Comparison (per 1M tokens)
| Metric | Kimi K2.6 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Input (per 1M tokens) | $0.95 | $0.30 |
| Output (per 1M tokens) | $4.00 | $1.20 |
| Cache Write (per 1M tokens) | — | — |
| Cache Read (per 1M tokens) | — | — |
| Batch Input (per 1M tokens) | — | — |
| Batch Output (per 1M tokens) | — | — |
Prices are per 1 million tokens. Actual costs depend on your monthly token volume. Use the calculator →
Specifications
| Spec | Kimi K2.6 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 262K | 1M |
| Max Output Tokens | 64K | 64K |
| Knowledge Cutoff | 2026-04 | 2026-04 |
| Modalities | Text | Text |
| Prompt Caching | No | No |
| Batch API | No | No |
| Thinking / Reasoning | Yes | No |
Benchmark Scores
| Benchmark | Kimi K2.6 | MiniMax M3 |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-bench Verified | 80.2 | 80.5 |
| MMLU-Pro | 83.0 | 82.5 |
| HumanEval | 92.5 | 92.0 |
Benchmark scores from official provider reports. Higher is better. Missing scores indicate the provider has not published that benchmark yet.
Use Cases
Kimi K2.6
MiniMax M3
About the Providers
Kimi K2.6 is developed by Moonshot AI. MiniMax M3 is developed by MiniMax. This is a cross-provider comparison between Moonshot AI and MiniMax models. For the most up-to-date pricing, always check the official API documentation from each provider.