DeepSeek V3.2 Exp vs Kimi K2 Thinking
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp and Kimi K2 Thinking match in llmrun Score, with values of 109.0 versus 108.8; neither fits 24 GB.
Model A · DeepSeek
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp685.4B · 41B active · 160K context · MIT · Sep 2025
Model B · Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Thinking1026.4B · 32.9B active · 256K context · Other · Nov 2025
Choose DeepSeek V3.2 Exp if you want…
Lighter on memory
415.1 vs 619.7 GB at Q4_K_M
More permissive license
MIT vs Other
Choose Kimi K2 Thinking if you want…
Ahead on the benchmarks
2 of 3 shared boards
Longer context window
256K vs 160K tokens
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 V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 292.8 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
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 V3.2 Exp
Kimi K2 Thinking
Coding
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Kimi K2 Thinking
Agents
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
no data
Kimi K2 Thinking
Science
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Kimi K2 Thinking
no data
Reasoning
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
Kimi K2 Thinking
no data
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp · #27 of 92 open models · #24 of 88 that fit ≤512 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking · #28 of 92 open models · #25 of 88 that fit ≤640 GB
Benchmarks
3 shared boards: DeepSeek V3.2 Exp leads 0, Kimi K2 Thinking leads 2 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
1424.8#28/186 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Kimi K2 Thinking
1430.1#25/186 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
1272.4#44/50 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Kimi K2 Thinking
1322.1#40/50 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
39.5%#24/46 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Sep 2025
Kimi K2 Thinking
42.8%#17/46 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Nov 2025
16 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
13.2%#5/7 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Sep 2025
Kimi K2 Thinking
17.6%#3/7 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Nov 2025
Only DeepSeek V3.2 Exp (8)
- Aider Polyglot74.2%
- SciCode38.9%
- CritPt2.9%
- DTBench87.7%
- LMCA29.1%
- CL-bench Life9.5%
- Fiction.LiveBench83.3%
- Vending-Bench 21034.0
Only Kimi K2 Thinking (7)
- SWE-bench Verified63.4%
- GPQA Diamond84.2%
- AIME 2024/202583.1%
- Terminal-Bench35.7%
- SWE-bench Bash Only63.4%
- Chess Puzzles20.0%
- ALE-Bench597.5
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 V3.2 Exp
295 GB~291.3 GB file
32K 294 GB · 128K 301 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
440 GB374.1 GB file
32K 439 GB · 128K 446 GB
Q3_K_S
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
453 GB443.2 GB file
32K 452 GB · 128K 459 GB
Q3_K_M
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
338 GB~334.1 GB file
32K 337 GB · 128K 344 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
504 GB490.0 GB file
32K 503 GB · 128K 510 GB
Q4_0
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
517 GB581.2 GB file
32K 516 GB · 128K 523 GB
Q4_K_M
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
415 GB~411.2 GB file
32K 414 GB · 128K 421 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
620 GB621.2 GB file
32K 618 GB · 128K 625 GB
Q5_K_M
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
492 GB~488.4 GB file
32K 491 GB · 128K 498 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
735 GB728.7 GB file
32K 734 GB · 128K 741 GB
Q6_K
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
569 GB~565.5 GB file
32K 568 GB · 128K 575 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
851 GB842.9 GB file
32K 849 GB · 128K 856 GB
Q8_0
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
689 GB~685.4 GB file
32K 688 GB · 128K 695 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
1030 GB1091.1 GB file
32K 1029 GB · 128K 1036 GB
14 more quants
IQ2_XXS
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
286 GB335.2 GB file
32K 285 GB · 128K 292 GB
IQ2_XS
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
312 GB283.4 GB file
32K 311 GB · 128K 317 GB
IQ2_S
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
325 GB284.1 GB file
32K 323 GB · 128K 330 GB
IQ2_M
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
350 GB353.6 GB file
32K 349 GB · 128K 356 GB
IQ3_XXS
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
402 GB421.7 GB file
32K 400 GB · 128K 407 GB
IQ3_XS
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
427 GB420.7 GB file
32K 426 GB · 128K 433 GB
IQ3_M
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
466 GB467.5 GB file
32K 464 GB · 128K 471 GB
Q3_K_L
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
530 GB487.7 GB file
32K 529 GB · 128K 536 GB
IQ4_XS
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
556 GB547.2 GB file
32K 554 GB · 128K 561 GB
IQ4_NL
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
581 GB579.1 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
Q4_1
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
581 GB642.9 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
Q4_K_S
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
581 GB583.3 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
Q5_K_S
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
not listed
Kimi K2 Thinking
710 GB707.0 GB file
32K 708 GB · 128K 715 GB
BF16
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
1375 GB~1370.8 GB file
32K 1373 GB · 128K 1380 GB
Kimi K2 Thinking
2057 GB2053.2 GB file
32K 2055 GB · 128K 2062 GB
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp
No local recipe · Q4_K_M
No GGUF repo entry exists for this model yet.
All ways to run DeepSeek V3.2 Exp →Kimi K2 Thinking
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Kimi-K2-Thinking-GGUF:Q4_K_M| Spec | DeepSeek V3.2 Exp | Kimi K2 Thinking |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | DeepSeek | Moonshot AI |
| Parameters | 685.4B | 1026.4B |
| Active parameters | 41B per token | 33B per token |
| Architecture | DeepseekV32ForCausalLM | DeepseekV3ForCausalLM |
| Context | 160K tokens | 256K tokens |
| Modalities | Chat, Function-calling | Chat, Function-calling |
| License | MIT | Other |
| Released | Sep 2025 | Nov 2025 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, DeepSeek V3.2 Exp or Kimi K2 Thinking?
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp and Kimi K2 Thinking match in llmrun Score, with values of 109.0 versus 108.8; neither fits 24 GB. Choose DeepSeek V3.2 Exp for lighter on memory and more permissive license; choose Kimi K2 Thinking for ahead on the benchmarks and longer context window.
Which needs less VRAM, DeepSeek V3.2 Exp or Kimi K2 Thinking?
At Q4_K_M, DeepSeek V3.2 Exp requires 415.1 GB while Kimi K2 Thinking needs 619.7 GB, making DeepSeek V3.2 Exp the easier model to run on your local setup.
Can I run DeepSeek V3.2 Exp or Kimi K2 Thinking on a 16 GB GPU?
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp does not fit (smallest quant needs 292.8 GB); Kimi K2 Thinking does not fit (smallest quant needs 283.7 GB).
Which has a longer context window, DeepSeek V3.2 Exp or Kimi K2 Thinking?
DeepSeek V3.2 Exp supports 163,840 tokens and Kimi K2 Thinking supports 262,144 tokens.