Side-by-side comparison of pricing, 12 benchmarks, and generation speed.
| Metric | Kimi K2.6 (Non-reasoning) | DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) |
|---|---|---|
| Input ($/M tokens) | $0.95 | $1.32 |
| Output ($/M tokens) | $4 | $3.96 |
Verdict. DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) takes the aggregate benchmark matchup 2–0 across 2 categories. Real workloads usually care about a handful of specific tasks — see the per-benchmark table above.
Pricing. Both models sit in the mid-tier / budget 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. Kimi K2.6 (Non-reasoning) is strongest on Intelligence Index (35.4). DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) leads on Coding Index (68.8), Intelligence Index (53.2).
Speed. On throughput, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) generates tokens at 74 tok/s versus 40 tok/s — about 46% faster. On time-to-first-token, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) responds in 1700ms vs 2760ms, which matters most for chat-style UIs.
Provider. Kimi and DeepSeek sell to overlapping but distinct developer audiences: Kimi tends to ship frontier reasoning models with premium positioning, while DeepSeek 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): Kimi K2.6 (Non-reasoning) costs $88.50 ($1062/year); DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) costs $99.00 ($1188/year). At a smaller 5M-input/2M-output scale (single-developer tool or prototype): Kimi K2.6 (Non-reasoning) ≈ $12.75/run, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) ≈ $14.52/run. At agent/realtime scale (200M input / 100M output per million requests): Kimi K2.6 (Non-reasoning) ≈ $590/run, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) ≈ $660/run. Kimi K2.6 (Non-reasoning) 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 (Non-reasoning) 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 (Non-reasoning). See the detailed benchmark chart above for per-category results.
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) generates tokens faster at 74 tok/s vs 40 tok/s. However, DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (Reasoning, Max Effort) has lower time-to-first-token (1.70s vs 2.76s).
Choose based on your priorities: Kimi K2.6 (Non-reasoning) 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.