Kimi K2.6 vs Sakana Namazu: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
Kimi K2.6 is developed by Moonshot AI, while Sakana Namazu comes from Sakana AI. Kimi K2.6 was released in April 2026, and Sakana Namazu followed 4 months later in August 2026. Kimi K2.6 has a published size of about 1.0 trillion parameters; Sakana AI has not disclosed the parameter count of Sakana Namazu.
The two models share 2 published benchmarks. Sakana Namazu leads on 2 of them. The widest gaps are on LiveCodeBench v6, where Sakana Namazu scores 90.3% against 89.6%; AIME 2026, where Sakana Namazu scores 96.7% against 96.0%. Averaged across everything we track, Kimi K2.6 sits at 71.2% and Sakana Namazu at 92.4%.
Sakana Namazu is the cheaper API at $0.95 per million input tokens and $4 per million output tokens, about 26% below Kimi K2.6 at $1.20 and $4.50. Both accept a context window of about 256K tokens. Both accept text and images as input. On tooling, only Kimi K2.6 supports function calling and only Kimi K2.6 offers structured output.
| Characteristic | Kimi K2.6 | Sakana Namazu |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Moonshot AI | Sakana AI |
| Release Date | April 20, 2026 | August 3, 2026 |
| Parameters | 1.0T | — |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Context (input) | 262K | 256K |
| Context (output) | 131K | 256K |
| Input Price / 1M | $1.20 | $0.95 |
| Output Price / 1M | $4.50 | $4.00 |
| Average Score | 71.2% | 92.4% |
| Benchmarks | ||
| LiveCodeBench v6 | 89.6% | 90.3% |
| AIME 2026 | 96.0% | 96.7% |
Visual Benchmark Comparison
Verdict
Sakana Namazu leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: Kimi K2.6 — 0.7, Sakana Namazu — 0.9.
Sakana Namazu is 1.2x cheaper: input $0.95/1M vs $1.20/1M tokens.
Kimi K2.6 supports a larger context: 262K vs 256K tokens.
Sakana Namazu is newer: released 8/3/2026 vs 4/20/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — Kimi K2.6 or Sakana Namazu?
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The Kimi K2.6 and Sakana Namazu comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the Kimi K2.6 or Sakana Namazu page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.