Claude Sonnet 5 vs Kimi K2.6

Both are Mid-tier models, from Anthropic and Moonshot AI respectively. Kimi K2.6 is the cheaper choice overall at a 4:1 input:output ratio.

Which is cheaper

Input price: Kimi K2.6 is cheaper ($0.95 vs $2.00).
Output price: Kimi K2.6 is cheaper ($4.00 vs $10.00).
Blended, 4:1 input:output ratio: Kimi K2.6 is 56.7% cheaper ($1.56 vs $3.60 per weighted 1M tokens).

Side by side

Spec	Claude Sonnet 5	Kimi K2.6
Provider	Anthropic	Moonshot AI
Tier	Mid	Mid
Context window	1M	262K
Max output	128K	—
Input $/1M	$2.00	$0.95
Output $/1M	$10.00	$4.00
Cache read $/1M	$0.20	$0.16
Cache write $/1M	$2.50	—
Modalities	text, image	text

Claude Sonnet 5. 5-minute cache write shown; 1-hour cache write is $4/MTok. The page now states explicitly the previously-scheduled Sep 1 2026 increase to $3/$15 will NOT occur - $2/$10 is permanent.

Kimi K2.6. input is cache-miss (standard) price per 1M tokens; cache_read is cache-hit price ($0.16).

Sources

Claude Sonnet 5 — verified August 29, 2026

Kimi K2.6 — verified August 29, 2026

Full Claude Sonnet 5 pricing page → · Full Kimi K2.6 pricing page →