DeepSeek V3.1 vs Kimi K2 Instruct
DeepSeek V3.1 and Kimi K2 Instruct match in llmrun Score, with values of 99.8 versus 100.0; neither fits 24 GB.
Model A · DeepSeek
DeepSeek V3.1684.5B · 40.1B active · 160K context · MIT · Aug 2025
Model B · Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct1026.4B · 32.9B active · 128K context · Other · Jul 2025
Choose DeepSeek V3.1 if you want…
Stronger at reasoning
105.3 vs 89.9
Lighter on memory
414.6 vs 619.7 GB at Q4_K_M
More permissive license
MIT vs Other
Kimi K2 Instruct: no clear edge over DeepSeek V3.1 in the data we have.
On your hardware
Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.
8 GB
RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
DeepSeek V3.1
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 189.7 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
DeepSeek V3.1
Kimi K2 Instruct
Coding
DeepSeek V3.1
no data
Kimi K2 Instruct
Agents
DeepSeek V3.1
no data
Kimi K2 Instruct
Reasoning
DeepSeek V3.1
Kimi K2 Instruct
DeepSeek V3.1 · #47 of 92 open models · #44 of 88 that fit ≤512 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct · #46 of 92 open models · #43 of 88 that fit ≤640 GB
Benchmarks
4 shared boards: DeepSeek V3.1 leads 2, Kimi K2 Instruct leads 1 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026
DeepSeek V3.1
1417.2#36/186 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Kimi K2 Instruct
1417.7#35/186 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
DeepSeek V3.1
84.8%#9/144 open
IndependentTIGER-Lab
Kimi K2 Instruct
81.0%#21/144 open
IndependentTIGER-Lab
DeepSeek V3.1
40.0%#14/25 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2025
Kimi K2 Instruct
26.3%#19/25 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2025
DeepSeek V3.1
38.4%#27/46 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2025
Kimi K2 Instruct
39.4%#25/46 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2025
9 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
DeepSeek V3.1
52.8%#17/25 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2025
Kimi K2 Instruct
61.1%#13/25 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2025
DeepSeek V3.1
58.0#14/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Aug 2025
Kimi K2 Instruct
60.2#4/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jul 2025
Only Kimi K2 Instruct (5)
- SWE-bench Verified65.4%
- Terminal-Bench27.8%
- Aider Polyglot59.1%
- SWE-bench Bash Only43.8%
- GSO-Bench4.9%
VRAM by quantization
Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.
Q2_K
DeepSeek V3.1
295 GB245.7 GB file
32K 294 GB · 128K 300 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
440 GB373.2 GB file
32K 439 GB · 128K 446 GB
Q3_K_S
DeepSeek V3.1
303 GB290.4 GB file
32K 302 GB · 128K 309 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
453 GB442.4 GB file
32K 452 GB · 128K 459 GB
Q3_K_M
DeepSeek V3.1
338 GB320.5 GB file
32K 336 GB · 128K 343 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
504 GB489.4 GB file
32K 503 GB · 128K 510 GB
Q4_0
DeepSeek V3.1
346 GB380.1 GB file
32K 345 GB · 128K 352 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
517 GB580.6 GB file
32K 516 GB · 128K 523 GB
Q4_K_M
DeepSeek V3.1
415 GB405.4 GB file
32K 413 GB · 128K 420 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
620 GB620.8 GB file
32K 618 GB · 128K 625 GB
Q5_K_M
DeepSeek V3.1
492 GB476.2 GB file
32K 490 GB · 128K 497 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
735 GB728.3 GB file
32K 734 GB · 128K 741 GB
Q6_K
DeepSeek V3.1
569 GB551.3 GB file
32K 567 GB · 128K 574 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
851 GB842.6 GB file
32K 849 GB · 128K 856 GB
Q8_0
DeepSeek V3.1
688 GB713.3 GB file
32K 687 GB · 128K 694 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
1030 GB1091.1 GB file
32K 1029 GB · 128K 1036 GB
14 more quants
IQ2_XXS
DeepSeek V3.1
192 GB225.9 GB file
32K 191 GB · 128K 198 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
286 GB328.8 GB file
32K 285 GB · 128K 292 GB
IQ2_XS
DeepSeek V3.1
209 GB188.4 GB file
32K 208 GB · 128K 215 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
not listed
IQ2_S
DeepSeek V3.1
218 GB189.6 GB file
32K 217 GB · 128K 223 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
not listed
IQ2_M
DeepSeek V3.1
235 GB235.5 GB file
32K 234 GB · 128K 241 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
350 GB347.1 GB file
32K 349 GB · 128K 356 GB
IQ3_XXS
DeepSeek V3.1
269 GB279.7 GB file
32K 268 GB · 128K 275 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
402 GB416.6 GB file
32K 400 GB · 128K 407 GB
IQ3_XS
DeepSeek V3.1
286 GB277.1 GB file
32K 285 GB · 128K 292 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
not listed
IQ3_M
DeepSeek V3.1
312 GB307.9 GB file
32K 311 GB · 128K 318 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
not listed
Q3_K_L
DeepSeek V3.1
355 GB319.7 GB file
32K 353 GB · 128K 360 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
530 GB530.5 GB file
32K 529 GB · 128K 536 GB
IQ4_XS
DeepSeek V3.1
372 GB358.3 GB file
32K 371 GB · 128K 377 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
556 GB546.5 GB file
32K 554 GB · 128K 561 GB
IQ4_NL
DeepSeek V3.1
389 GB379.1 GB file
32K 388 GB · 128K 395 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
581 GB578.5 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
Q4_1
DeepSeek V3.1
389 GB420.8 GB file
32K 388 GB · 128K 395 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
581 GB642.5 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
Q4_K_S
DeepSeek V3.1
389 GB381.1 GB file
32K 388 GB · 128K 395 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
581 GB582.7 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
Q5_K_S
DeepSeek V3.1
475 GB462.6 GB file
32K 473 GB · 128K 480 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
710 GB706.6 GB file
32K 708 GB · 128K 715 GB
BF16
DeepSeek V3.1
1373 GB1342.3 GB file
32K 1372 GB · 128K 1379 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
2057 GB2053.2 GB file
32K 2055 GB · 128K 2062 GB
DeepSeek V3.1
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/DeepSeek-V3.1-GGUF:Q4_K_MKimi K2 Instruct
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Kimi-K2-Instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_M| Spec | DeepSeek V3.1 | Kimi K2 Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | DeepSeek | Moonshot AI |
| Parameters | 684.5B | 1026.4B |
| Active parameters | 40B per token | 33B per token |
| Architecture | DeepseekV3ForCausalLM | DeepseekV3ForCausalLM |
| Context | 160K tokens | 128K tokens |
| Modalities | Chat, Function-calling | Chat, Function-calling |
| License | MIT | Other |
| Released | Aug 2025 | Jul 2025 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, DeepSeek V3.1 or Kimi K2 Instruct?
DeepSeek V3.1 and Kimi K2 Instruct match in llmrun Score, with values of 99.8 versus 100.0; neither fits 24 GB. Choose DeepSeek V3.1 for stronger at reasoning and lighter on memory.
Which needs less VRAM, DeepSeek V3.1 or Kimi K2 Instruct?
At Q4_K_M, DeepSeek V3.1 requires 414.6 GB while Kimi K2 Instruct needs 619.7 GB, making DeepSeek V3.1 the easier model to run on your local setup.
Can I run DeepSeek V3.1 or Kimi K2 Instruct on a 16 GB GPU?
DeepSeek V3.1 does not fit (smallest quant needs 189.7 GB); Kimi K2 Instruct does not fit (smallest quant needs 283.7 GB).
Which has a longer context window, DeepSeek V3.1 or Kimi K2 Instruct?
DeepSeek V3.1 supports 163,840 tokens and Kimi K2 Instruct supports 131,072 tokens.