---
title: "Is Kimi K2.5 still undominated? · Undominated.ai"
canonical: https://undominated.ai/check/moonshotai__kimi-k2.5/
description: "Kimi K2.5: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Sep 23, 2026. Unrated stays unrated."
---

# Is Kimi K2.5 still undominated? · Undominated.ai

> Kimi K2.5: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Sep 23, 2026. Unrated stays unrated.

# Is Kimi K2.5 a good deal?

Whether anything in this catalogue beats Kimi K2.5 on both quality and price, and what you give up if it does. A computation on the current catalogue, not an opinion.

13 undominated of 136 · Sep 23, 2026

 [1 · Choose & set workload](#check-input)[2 · Read verdict](#check-verdict)[3 · Inspect alternatives](#check-options)

As of Sep 23, 2026, Kimi K2.5 is dominated for Balanced on LMArena. GLM 5.3 Flash scores 26.3 higher and costs 74% less, with a covering envelope. 13 of 136 rated, priced standard models are undominated.

[Inspect model evidence](/models/moonshotai__kimi-k2.5/) [Compare differences & requirements](/compare/?models=moonshotai%2Fkimi-k2.5%2Cz-ai%2Fglm-5.3-flash)

 Current model

Kimi K2.5

 Balanced

3 tokens in per 1 out

 Balanced Summarise Chat Code gen Agentic
 Monthly spend (USD) Used only to say how many months a named switching cost would take to earn back. Leave blank to skip. Switching cost (USD)

GLM 5.3 Flash is both better and cheaper than Kimi K2.5: 26.3 points higher on LMArena and 74% less per million tokens, $0.66 cheaper at this mix.

 [Kimi K2.5](https://undominated.ai/models/moonshotai__kimi-k2.5/)

LMArena Elo · higher is better

Scale starts at 1040 Elo

 **

1445.6

Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better

 **

$0.900/M

 [GLM 5.3 Flash](https://undominated.ai/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/)

LMArena Elo · higher is better

Scale starts at 1040 Elo

 **

1471.9

Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better

 **

$0.237/M

Kimi K2.5 takes text, image, returns up to 235,929 tokens from a 262,144-token context, and is listed by 5 sellers.

Compared against 136 rated, priced models on this lens: 1 model dominates it and gives up nothing, 2 more dominate it but give something up. Kimi K2.5 scores 1445.6 at $0.90 per million tokens for this mix.

## Envelope-safe replacements

Each row scores at least as high, costs no more, and covers this model’s context, output, modalities, tools, and reasoning. A cheaper narrower model is not listed here.

| Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You save |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [GLM 5.3 Flash](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/) | 1471.9 +26.3 | $0.237/M | 74% |

## Higher score, lower price, named losses

Not a drop-in. The loss is why these are not a recommendation.

| Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You give up |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [MiMo-V2.5-Pro](/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.5-pro/) | 1464.8 | $0.544/M | max output, image |
| [Qwen3.7 Plus](/models/qwen__qwen3.7-plus/) | 1454.2 | $0.560/M | max output |

 136 rated, priced standard models. Chartreuse is the frontier. Cobalt is the model you named, when it is not on the staircase.

Copy watch URL [Open the frontier](/frontier/)

The link keeps the model and mix, using the current catalogue. Monthly spend and switching cost stay in this browser tab and are left out of the link.

## Saved decision references

Save the model, workload, catalogue date and capability-preservation rule in this browser. Spend, switching cost and bill contents are not saved. No account or notifications.

Constraint: replacements must preserve the model’s capabilities; any losses remain named trade-offs.

Historical decisions cannot be fully replayed from saved references: past prices, scores and capability evidence are not stored.

 Save this reference

## Continue your investigation

 - [Build a shortlist](/compare/)
- [Inspect alternatives](/alternatives/)
- [Check billing conditions](/traps/)
- [Read model evidence](/models/)