Kimi K2 Instruct vs NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2
Wins 5 of 6 areas
Coding · Agents · Reasoning · Long documents · Following instructions
Wins 0 of 6 areas
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Kimi K2 Instruct is the stronger all-rounder.NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 is cheaper.
Scores updated · 19 tests both models report · How we compare
Where each one wins
Tests won in each of the six areas where both have results. Each piece is one test, so a longer bar means more evidence; grey means the two scored within a point of each other.
- ReasoningHard problems that need careful thinking20Kimi K2 Instruct2 of 3 tests · 1 tie
- CodingWriting and fixing software20Kimi K2 Instruct2 of 2 tests
- AgentsCarrying out multi-step tasks on its own10Kimi K2 Instruct1 of 1 test
- Long documentsFinding answers in very long texts10Kimi K2 Instruct1 of 1 test
- Following instructionsDoing exactly what it is asked10Kimi K2 Instruct1 of 1 test
- FactsGetting facts right instead of making them up11Even1 each
Agents, long documents and following instructions rest on a single test each.
What it costs
Prices per million tokens, roughly 750,000 words. The bars show the cost of a million tokens read plus a million written.
NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 costs 94% less for the same work.
The biggest differences
The tests each model wins by the widest margin, up to three each. Scores are out of 100.
Where Kimi K2 Instruct pulls ahead
- Reasons across sets of long documentsAA-LCR+30.3points ahead
- Hard command-line tasks in a real terminalTerminal-Bench Hard+22points ahead
- Graduate-level biology, physics and chemistry questionsGPQA Diamond+19.7points ahead
Where NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 pulls ahead
- Avoids making up answers it doesn't knowAA-Omniscience · Non-hallucination+9.2points ahead
Every test, side by side
All 19 tests both models report. The winning score is in its model's colour; marks a score checked independently.
CodingKimi K2 Instruct
- Terminal-Bench HardKimi K2 Instruct by 2223.51.5+22
- SciCodeKimi K2 Instruct by 8.730.722+8.7
ReasoningKimi K2 Instruct
- GPQA DiamondKimi K2 Instruct by 19.776.757+19.7
- Humanity's Last ExamKimi K2 Instruct by 1.56.44.9+1.5
- CritPttie00tie
FactsEven
- AA-Omniscience · AccuracyKimi K2 Instruct by 13.625.411.8+13.6
- AA-Omniscience · Non-hallucinationNVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 by 9.230.339.5+9.2
Following instructionsKimi K2 Instruct
- IFBenchKimi K2 Instruct by 14.141.727.6+14.1
Other results9 tests, not counted
Tests outside the eight areas. They are not counted above: several are summary scores built from other tests, or the same test under another name.
- τ²-Bench Telecom (AA run)Kimi K2 Instruct by 51.573.421.9+51.5
- AA Agentic IndexKimi K2 Instruct by 28.337.79.4+28.3
- AIME 2025NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 by 22.649.572.1+22.6
- Artificial Analysis Coding IndexKimi K2 Instruct by 17.625.98.3+17.6
- LiveCodeBenchNVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 by 17.453.771.1+17.4
- AA-OmniscienceKimi K2 Instruct by 14.9-26.6-41.5+14.9
- AA IntelligenceKimi K2 Instruct by 7.915.37.4+7.9
- IFEvaltie89.890.3tie
- MATH-500 (EM)tie97.497.8tie
Questions people ask
Which is better, Kimi K2 Instruct or NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2?
Kimi K2 Instruct wins five of the six areas where both have results: coding, agents, reasoning, long documents and following instructions. NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 wins none, but costs 94% less. They are level on facts.
Which is better for coding?
Kimi K2 Instruct. It wins 2 of the 2 coding tests both models report; NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 wins none.
Which is cheaper?
Kimi K2 Instruct costs $0.60 per million input tokens and $2.50 per million output tokens; NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 costs $0.04 and $0.16. That makes NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 9B V2 about 94% cheaper for the same work.
How do you compare the two?
We use the 19 benchmark tests both models have published scores on. The verdict counts the 10 tests in the eight capability areas, and a gap under one point (ten on rating-style scales) counts as a tie. The other 9 are listed but not counted, because several are summary scores or repeat a test. Each score is the one shown on the model's own page.