API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥Kimi K2.6 vs 🔥Gemma 4 31B

Pick Gemma 4 31B when budget is the priority.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-17T02:07:32Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Gemma 4 31B when budget is the priority.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 31B is estimated at $0.3 vs $2.48 for Kimi K2.6, saving $2.17 (87.7% lower).

Cost-first pickGemma 4 31B

Context-first pickBoth models

Sample savings$2.1787.7%

10x traffic gap$21.7

The reported context window is tied, so cost and provider fit carry more weight. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $21.7. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cheaper input Gemma 4 31B $0.73 vs $0.12 / 1M

Gemma 4 31B is $0.61 cheaper per 1M input tokens (83.6% lower; 6.08x difference).

Cheaper output Gemma 4 31B $3.49 vs $0.37 / 1M

Gemma 4 31B is $3.12 cheaper per 1M output tokens (89.4% lower; 9.43x difference).

Larger context Tie 262.14K vs 262.14K

Both models report the same context window at 262.14K tokens.

Sample workload Gemma 4 31B $2.48 vs $0.3

Gemma 4 31B is $2.17 cheaper on the standard workload (87.7% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Kimi K2.6 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Gemma 4 31B Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

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

Verdict

Gemma 4 31B has the lower input price; Gemma 4 31B has the lower output price; both models report the same context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Gemma 4 31B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $2.48 for Kimi K2.6 and $0.3 for Gemma 4 31B.

Best Fit

Choose Kimi K2.6 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Choose Gemma 4 31B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 31B is estimated at $0.3 vs $2.48 for Kimi K2.6, saving $2.17 (87.7% lower).
Gemma 4 31B is $2.17 cheaper on the standard workload (87.7% lower).
Gemma 4 31B is $0.61 cheaper per 1M input tokens (83.6% lower; 6.08x difference).
Gemma 4 31B is $3.12 cheaper per 1M output tokens (89.4% lower; 9.43x difference).
Both models report the same context window at 262.14K tokens.

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥Kimi K2.6 (MoonshotAI)	🔥Gemma 4 31B (Google)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.73	$0.12
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$3.49	$0.37
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$2.48	$0.3
Context Window	262.14K	262.14K
Release Date	2026-04-20	2026-04-02
Popularity Rank current rank	#12	#18

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Gemma 4 31B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 31B is estimated at $0.3 vs $2.48 for Kimi K2.6, saving $2.17 (87.7% lower).
High-volume input processing	Gemma 4 31B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Gemma 4 31B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Tie	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Kimi K2.5 can replace Kimi K2.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $1.35.
Kimi K2 0711 can replace Kimi K2.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $1.72.
Kimi K2 Thinking can replace Kimi K2.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $1.85.
Kimi K2 0905 can replace Kimi K2.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $1.85.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.22 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #3
Owl Alpha · OpenRouter · #4

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models ranked by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

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Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

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Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

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MoonshotAI catalog

Review all tracked MoonshotAI models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

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Google catalog

Check other Google models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

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Kimi K2.6

Kimi K2.6 is Moonshot AI's next-generation multimodal model, designed for long-horizon coding, coding-driven UI/UX generation, and multi-agent orchestration. It handles complex end-to-end coding tasks across Python, Rust, and Go, and...

Gemma 4 31B

Gemma 4 31B Instruct is Google DeepMind's 30.7B dense multimodal model supporting text and image input with text output. Features a 256K token context window, configurable thinking/reasoning mode, native function...