GOOGLE VS MOONSHOT AI
Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking
Kimi K2 Thinking is about 2.8x cheaper than Gemini 3.6 Flash on a blended 3:1 input:output rate — the same 10K-in/2K-out request costs $0.011 vs $0.03. Gemini 3.6 Flash has the larger context window (1,048,576 vs 262,144 tokens).
Pricing verified
API pricing per 1M tokens
| Model | Input / 1M tokens | Output / 1M tokens | Blended (3:1 mix) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $1.50 | $7.50 | $3.00 |
| Kimi K2 Thinking | $0.60 | $2.50 | $1.075 |
Rates from official Google pricing and official Moonshot AI pricing, checked 2026-08-11.
What a real workload costs
Example: one request with 10,000 input tokens and 2,000 output tokens, then that request at 100,000 runs per month.
| Model | Per request (10K in / 2K out) | Per month (100K requests) | Monthly delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $0.03 | $3,000 | +$1,900 |
| Kimi K2 Thinking | $0.011 | $1,100 | — |
Model your own prompt sizes and volumes in the token cost analyzer, or check caching savings with the prompt caching calculator.
Specs side by side
| Spec | Gemini 3.6 Flash | Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Moonshot AI | |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 262,144 tokens |
| Model class | General text | Reasoning |
| Tokenizer | Proprietary (counts estimated) | Proprietary (counts estimated) |
Count tokens for each model on its own page: Gemini 3.6 Flash token counter and Kimi K2 Thinking token counter. All Google models are on the Gemini Token Counter. All Moonshot AI models are on the Kimi Token Counter.
FAQ
Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking FAQ
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Kimi K2 Thinking?
Kimi K2 Thinking is cheaper. At rates checked 2026-08-11, Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $1.50 input / $7.50 output per 1M tokens, while Kimi K2 Thinking costs $0.60 input / $2.50 output — about a 2.8x difference on a typical 3:1 input-heavy workload.
How much does a real request cost on Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Kimi K2 Thinking?
A request with 10,000 input tokens and 2,000 output tokens costs about $0.03 on Gemini 3.6 Flash and $0.011 on Kimi K2 Thinking. At 100,000 such requests per month that is $3,000 vs $1,100 — a difference of $1,900 per month.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.6 Flash or Kimi K2 Thinking?
Gemini 3.6 Flash. It supports 1,048,576 tokens of context versus 262,144 tokens — roughly 786,000 English words in one request.
Do Gemini 3.6 Flash and Kimi K2 Thinking count tokens the same way?
Not exactly. Gemini 3.6 Flash uses a proprietary tokenizer (counts are estimates) and Kimi K2 Thinking uses a proprietary tokenizer (counts are estimates). The same prompt will tokenize differently, which shifts effective cost per word.