Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Kimi K2.6

Claude Haiku 4.5 (2025) and Kimi K2.6 (2026) compare a standalone API model against a coding-specialized model. Claude Haiku 4.5 ships a 200k-token context window, while Kimi K2.6 ships a 262k-token context window. On SWE-bench Verified, Kimi K2.6 leads by 6.9 pts. On pricing, Kimi K2.6 costs $0.73/1M input tokens versus $0.80/1M for the alternative. This page treats the result as workflow and deployment fit, not a universal model winner.

Treat this as a product-type comparison: Claude Haiku 4.5 is standalone API model, while Kimi K2.6 is coding-specialized model. Choose based on workflow fit before reading any benchmark or price row as decisive.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first

Signal	Claude Haiku 4.5	Kimi K2.6	How to read it
Product type	Standalone API model	Coding-specialized model	Read downstream rows through the product-type lens before comparing benchmarks, prices, or provider availability.
Best for	multimodal apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production	custom coding agents, code generation, and tool loops	Use-case synthesis from product type, capability flags, context, and provider data.
Decision fit	Coding, RAG, and Agents	Coding, RAG, and Agents	Primary workload tags from local decision data.
Context window	200k	262k	Higher is better when prompts, retrieval chunks, or transcripts are large.
Cheapest output	$4/1M tokens	$3.49/1M tokens	Cheapest tracked provider route; verify your exact region and tier.
Provider routes	9 tracked	9 tracked	Broader coverage can reduce vendor lock-in and fallback risk.
Shared benchmarks	1 shared	SWE-bench Verified leader	Visible benchmark lead is 6.9 points on SWE-bench Verified.

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Claude Haiku 4.5 when...

Claude Haiku 4.5 uniquely exposes Code execution in local model data.
Local decision data tags Claude Haiku 4.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Choose Kimi K2.6 when...

Kimi K2.6 holds a shared-benchmark lead on SWE-bench Verified, ahead by 6.9 points.
Kimi K2.6 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
Kimi K2.6 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $3.49/1M tokens.
Kimi K2.6 uniquely exposes Reasoning in local model data.
Local decision data tags Kimi K2.6 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Lower estimate Kimi K2.6

Requests / monthInput tokens / requestOutput tokens / request

Claude Haiku 4.5

$1,640

Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock

Kimi K2.6

$1,457

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter

Estimated monthly gap: $184. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

Claude Haiku 4.5 -> Kimi K2.6

Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter, Microsoft Foundry, and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
Kimi K2.6 is $0.51/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
Check replacement coverage for Code execution before moving production traffic.
Kimi K2.6 adds Reasoning in local capability data.

Kimi K2.6 -> Claude Haiku 4.5

Provider overlap exists on Microsoft Foundry, OpenRouter, and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
Claude Haiku 4.5 is $0.51/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
Check replacement coverage for Reasoning before moving production traffic.
Claude Haiku 4.5 adds Code execution in local capability data.

Specs

Specification	Claude Haiku 4.5 Anthropic	Kimi K2.6 Moonshot AI
Released	2025-10-01	2026-04-20
Context window	200k	262k
Parameters	—	1T
Architecture	Decoder Only	Mixture of Experts
License	Proprietary	MITOSI-approved
Openness	Proprietary	Open source
Weights	Not released	Available·Moonshot Modified MIT License
Code	Unknown	Available·Moonshot Modified MIT License
Commercial use	Commercial use: conditional	Commercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff	2025-02	2025-04

Pricing and availability

Pricing attribute	Claude Haiku 4.5	Kimi K2.6
Input price	$0.80/1M tokens	$0.73/1M tokens
Output price	$4/1M tokens	$3.49/1M tokens
Providers	Microsoft Foundry Anthropic Snowflake Cortex AWS Bedrock GCP Vertex AI OpenRouter	Cloudflare Workers AI NVIDIA NIM Moonshot AI Kimi Fireworks AI OpenRouter Microsoft Foundry

Capabilities

Capability	Claude Haiku 4.5	Kimi K2.6
Vision	Yes	Yes
Multimodal	Yes	Yes
Reasoning	No	Yes
JSON / Tool use	Yes	Yes
Structured outputs	Yes	Yes
Code execution	Yes	No
IDE integration	No	No
Computer use	No	No
Parallel agents	No	No

Benchmarks

Benchmark	Claude Haiku 4.5	Kimi K2.6
SWE-bench Verified	73.3	80.2

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Model pages

Labs and families

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Last reviewed: 2026-07-26. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.

Both models

Claude Haiku 4.5 Kimi K2.6