Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 1, 2026
In this head-to-head showdown, Kimi Chat 1.5 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,420 vs 1,358), while DeepSeek R1 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (65.2%), while Kimi Chat 1.5 is more budget-friendly at $0.8/1M per 1M output tokens. Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.
9 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost
Open-weights reasoning model trained with large-scale RL.
Moonshot ultra-long context model supporting up to 2 million tokens per request.
Simulate accuracy gains vs added response time & token cost
Reasoning models “think before answering” by generating internal reasoning tokens. Higher effort improves math, coding, and logic accuracy, but increases response delay and token costs.
Δ 62 Arena Elo pts
95 tok/s
$0.8 / 1M output
Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.
Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.
Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.
Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy
Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness
Cost per million tokens and max context window length
| Benchmark | DeepSeek R1 | Kimi Chat 1.5 | Advantage Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preference Elo | +62 | ||
| Coding Elo | — | — | |
| LiveBench | +1% | ||
| SWE-bench | +14.2% | ||
| GPQA Diamond | +8.3% | ||
| Time to first token | +210 ms | ||
| Output speed | 62 tok/s | 95 tok/s | +33 tok/s |
| Input price | $0.55/1M | $0.2/1M | +$0.35/1M |
| Output price | $2.19/1M | $0.8/1M | +$1.39/1M |
| Context window | +1.9M |
Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).
Kimi Chat 1.5 is estimated to save $33.10/month ($397/year).
Higher SWE-bench (65.2%).
Lower output list price ($0.8/1M).
Lower TTFT (210 ms).
Larger window (2M).
Kimi Chat 1.5 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.
| Target Workload | Recommended Pick | Evaluation Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Repo / coding agents | DeepSeek R1 | Higher SWE-bench (65.2%). |
| High-volume chat | Kimi Chat 1.5 | Lower output list price ($0.8/1M). |
| Voice / low-latency UI | Kimi Chat 1.5 | Lower TTFT (210 ms). |
| Long-document RAG | Kimi Chat 1.5 | Larger window (2M). |
| Screenshots / vision | Kimi Chat 1.5 | Kimi Chat 1.5 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog. |
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