Kimi K2 Thinking is $0.9 cheaper per 1M input tokens (60% lower; 2.5x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
New🔥Gemini 3.5 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for lower cost; pick Gemini 3.5 Flash only if the larger context window matters more.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Kimi K2 Thinking for lower cost; pick Gemini 3.5 Flash only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Kimi K2 Thinking is estimated at $1.85 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $4.15 (69.2% lower).
Cost-first pickKimi K2 Thinking
Context-first pickGemini 3.5 Flash
Sample savings$4.1569.2%
10x traffic gap$41.5
Gemini 3.5 Flash has more context, but Kimi K2 Thinking saves $4.15 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $41.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Kimi K2 Thinking stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Gemini 3.5 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Kimi K2 Thinking | $12 | $4.25 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Kimi K2 Thinking | $10.5 | $3.1 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Kimi K2 Thinking | $46.5 | $13.1 |
Kimi K2 Thinking is $6.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (72.2% lower; 3.6x difference).
Gemini 3.5 Flash has 786.43K more context (4x larger).
Kimi K2 Thinking is $4.15 cheaper on the standard workload (69.2% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Quick Decision
Kimi K2 Thinking has the lower input price; Kimi K2 Thinking has the lower output price; Gemini 3.5 Flash offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Kimi K2 Thinking is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash and $1.85 for Kimi K2 Thinking.
Choose Gemini 3.5 Flash when you care most about larger context window.
Choose Kimi K2 Thinking when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Kimi K2 Thinking is estimated at $1.85 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $4.15 (69.2% lower).
- Kimi K2 Thinking is $4.15 cheaper on the standard workload (69.2% lower).
- Kimi K2 Thinking is $0.9 cheaper per 1M input tokens (60% lower; 2.5x difference).
- Kimi K2 Thinking is $6.5 cheaper per 1M output tokens (72.2% lower; 3.6x difference).
- Gemini 3.5 Flash has 786.43K more context (4x larger).
| Feature | New🔥Gemini 3.5 Flash (Google) | Kimi K2 Thinking (MoonshotAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $1.5 | $0.6 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $9 | $2.5 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $6 | $1.85 |
| Context Window | 1.05M | 262.14K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #11 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Kimi K2 Thinking | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Kimi K2 Thinking is estimated at $1.85 vs $6 for Gemini 3.5 Flash, saving $4.15 (69.2% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Kimi K2 Thinking | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Kimi K2 Thinking | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Gemini 3.5 Flash | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
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- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
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Cheaper alternatives
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Open MoonshotAI modelsGemini 3.5 Flash is Google's high-efficiency multimodal model, bringing near-Pro level coding and reasoning at Flash-tier cost and speed. It is highly optimized for coding proficiency and parallel agentic execution...
Kimi K2 Thinking is Moonshot AI’s most advanced open reasoning model to date, extending the K2 series into agentic, long-horizon reasoning. Built on the trillion-parameter Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture introduced in...