Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) | Kimi K2.6 |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $1.32 | $0.95 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $3.96 | $4 |
Verdict. DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) wins the overall benchmark matchup 2–0 across 2 overlapping categories, but raw benchmark score is only one input to the decision.
Pricing. Both models sit in the budget / mid-tier bracket for output-token pricing. At 1.0× the per-million-token cost, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) is meaningfully cheaper if your traffic is output-heavy (long completions, document generation, agent loops). DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) makes more sense when output volume is low and absolute reasoning quality justifies the premium.
Strengths. DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) is strongest on Coding Index (68.8), Intelligence Index (53.2). Kimi K2.6 leads on Coding Index (61.8), Intelligence Index (45.1).
Speed. On throughput, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) generates tokens at 60 tok/s versus 40 tok/s — about 33% faster. On time-to-first-token, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) responds in 1900ms vs 2370ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.
Provider. DeepSeek and Kimi sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: DeepSeek tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while Kimi often prices more aggressively. Your existing vendor relationships, billing, and SLA preferences may matter as much as the raw numbers above.
Workload cost. Workload scenarios (per million requests at 30M input + 15M output tokens): DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) costs $99.00 ($1188/year); Kimi K2.6 costs $88.50 ($1062/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) ≈ $14.52/run, Kimi K2.6 ≈ $12.75/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) ≈ $660/run, Kimi K2.6 ≈ $590/run. Kimi K2.6 becomes more attractive at higher volume — the absolute per-token pricing difference compounds when you ship at scale.
Recommendation. Both models have legitimate use cases — the right answer depends on whether you are optimizing for benchmark ceiling, latency, or unit cost. Start with the cheaper / faster model, evaluate against your specific task, and only switch if the upgrade shows a meaningful lift.
Head-to-head deltas
Data from Artificial Analysis API — 12 benchmarks
Kimi K2.6 is cheaper overall. Its blended price (3:1 input/output ratio) is $1.71/M tokens vs $1.98/M for DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort).
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) wins 2 out of 12 benchmarks compared to 0 for Kimi K2.6. See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) generates tokens faster at 60 tok/s vs 40 tok/s. DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) also has lower time-to-first-token (1.90s vs 2.37s).
Choose based on your priorities: Kimi K2.6 for lower cost, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) for stronger benchmark performance, and DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) for faster generation. For latency-sensitive apps, check the TTFT comparison above.