Head to head · Open-weight models you run yourself · October 2026 research run
Kimi K3.1 Pro vs Qwen3.5-2B
Qwen3.5-2B scores 50.5 (D) on agent readiness against Kimi K3.1 Pro's 48.6 (D), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories. Kimi K3.1 Pro leads on agent interface and documentation and upkeep. Both do open-weight models you run yourself.
Best open-weight models you download and run yourself for AI agents · All 4969 open weights comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for Operators with a multi-accelerator node who want Moonshot's newest open-weight model for coding and long agent sessions, and everyone else through an API
Ahead on
- Agent interface, 65 against 60
- Documentation and upkeep, 51 against 37
Watch for
1,561 GB of files, so it needs a node of eight large accelerators at least
Best for Builders who want a cheap local helper or fine-tuning base for narrow tasks and image reading on a laptop, small GPU or CPU
Ahead on
- Reach, 80 against 40
- Risk, 55 against 50
Watch for
No quantised build from Alibaba, and only one inference provider
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Reach Qwen3.5-2B +40
Kimi K3.1 Pro 40
Memory 0, the only build is Moonshot's 1,561 GB MXFP4 release, far above 256 GB. Runtimes 5, llama.cpp b12242 alone has the model code in a release, since vLLM's recipe needs 0.34.0 and SGLang's cookbook a branch. Builds 10, one precision. Terms 10, free commercial use below a model-as-a-service revenue threshold. Download 10, not gated. Hosted 5, Moonshot's API and Together serve it. 0 + 5 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 40.
Qwen3.5-2B 80
Memory earns the full 30, since LM Studio's Q4_K_M GGUF with its vision projector is 1.94 GB, about 2.3 GB with the fifth added (Ollama's Q4_K_M build was 1.9 GB on 21 October). Alibaba publishes no quantised 2B, so builds scores 0. Runtimes reach the 25 cap, with llama.cpp b11963 and Ollama through the build it pins re-read today. Apache 2.0 with nothing added gives terms 15 and the ungated download 10. Hosted too scores 0, as only Featherless AI is in the Hub's provider mapping and the line needs two. 30+25+0+15+10+0 = 80.
Documentation and upkeep Kimi K3.1 Pro +14
Kimi K3.1 Pro 51
Model card 11, no limitations, languages or cut-off. Training data 5, one general sentence. Last change 20, a commit on 5 November 2026. Responsiveness 0, none of the 8 newest discussions has a reply from Moonshot. Version policy 5, Kimi K3 keeps its repository and no dated note was found. File health 10, the files agree. 11 + 5 + 20 + 0 + 5 + 10 = 51.
Qwen3.5-2B 37
The card covers six of the seven items, missing only a cut-off (17), because it states the intended uses and warns about thinking loops. Training data is a general description without a cut-off (5). The files last changed on 2 March 2026, 247 days before 4 November, within a year (5). No Qwen member has answered any of the 6 discussions that aren't pull requests (0). Qwen3-1.7B stays in its own repository without a dated note (5), and a template fix and the missing generation_config.json wait unanswered (5). 17+5+5+0+5+5 = 37.
Risk Qwen3.5-2B +5
Kimi K3.1 Pro 50
File safety 15, safetensors only, less 10 for remote code and prompts built by the repository's script. Provenance 15, Moonshot's own organisation with a hash on every file. Safety evaluation 10, Moonshot's own cyber benchmark results and nobody else's yet. Agent guidance 0, none on the card. Licence risk 10, the revenue threshold. Security programme 0, no way to report a flaw found. 15 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 + 0 = 50.
Qwen3.5-2B 55
Safetensors only with no remote code gives file safety its 25, and files in the Qwen organisation the publisher's GitHub links to, each with a hash on the Hub, give provenance 15. The Apache 2.0 licence carries none of the deductions, so licence risk keeps 15. Safety evaluation, agent guidance and a security programme score 0, since the card has no safety results or agent cautions and no reporting route was found. The Qwen3.5 blog and Alibaba's security response centre couldn't be read, so those are scored as absent and left open. 25+15+0+0+15+0 = 55.
Agent interface Kimi K3.1 Pro +5
Kimi K3.1 Pro 65
Chat template 10, the format is only code to run. Tool-calling format 10, the parser is named in the runtimes' recipes and the card doesn't say how tools are declared. Trained tool calling 20, several calls a turn on Kimi K3's tools channel. Structured output 5, named among linked guides without the how. Reasoning control 10, reasoning_effort per request. Context 10, 1M tokens. 10 + 10 + 20 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 65.
Qwen3.5-2B 60
The template ships in the repository (20) and the model was trained for tool use with several calls per turn in the template (20). Tool-calling format gets 10, because the card names the qwen3_coder parser but leaves the format to the template. Reasoning control scores 0, since the card shows how to turn thinking on but not where the reasoning comes back. 262,144 tokens is native (10). Structured output scores 0, as nothing documents JSON output for the model. 20+10+20+0+0+10 = 60.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Kimi K3.1 Pro | Qwen3.5-2B | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | 35%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Reach | 25%25 | 40 | 80 | Qwen3.5-2B +40 |
| Risk | 20%20 | 50 | 55 | Qwen3.5-2B +5 |
| Agent interface | 10%10 | 65 | 60 | Kimi K3.1 Pro +5 |
| Documentation and upkeep | 10%10 | 51 | 37 | Kimi K3.1 Pro +14 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | D 48.6/100 | D 50.5/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Kimi K3.1 Pro | Qwen3.5-2B |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Open-weight model | Open-weight model |
| Vendor | Moonshot AI | Alibaba (Qwen team) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | None | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Kimi K3.1 Pro License (modified MIT) | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-11-05 | 2026-03-02 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |
Verdicts
Kimi K3.1 Pro
Moonshot's newest flagship, eight days old when read, for operators with a rack. Only llama.cpp has its model code in a release, with vLLM and SGLang support still on a release candidate and a branch. The licence is permissive below a revenue threshold, and Moonshot hasn't answered a discussion on the repository yet.
Qwen3.5-2B
A small vision-language model for prototypes, fine-tuning and narrow local steps such as tool calls, tagging or reading an image. It runs in about 2 GB at 4 bits in six runtimes under plain Apache 2.0. Keep thinking off, since the card warns it loops. The card has no safety results, and Qwen has answered none of its discussions.
Before you call either
Kimi K3.1 Pro
- Use Moonshot's API or Together unless you have a node of eight B300-class accelerators
- With vLLM use 0.34.0 or later and the recipe's flags,
--tool-call-parser kimi_k3 --reasoning-parser kimi_k3 - Pass the whole assistant message back in later turns, reasoning_content and tool_calls included, as the card requires
- Set
reasoning_effortto low, high or max per request. Max is the default and thinking can't be turned off - Kimi K3's model code doesn't load it, because the attention layers changed
- Validate JSON output yourself, since the card doesn't document structured output for the weights
Qwen3.5-2B
- Smallest start is
ollama run qwen3.5:2b-q4_K_M(1.9 GB); plainqwen3.5:2bpulls the 2.7 GB Q8_0 build - Full precision
vllm serve Qwen/Qwen3.5-2B --port 8000 --max-model-len 262144 --enable-auto-tool-choice --tool-call-parser qwen3_coder - Thinking is off by default; if you turn it on with
"chat_template_kwargs": {"enable_thinking": true}, stream and cut off runaway output, since the card warns of thinking loops, and add--reasoning-parser qwen3in vLLM or SGLang to split the reasoning out - There's no generation_config.json, so pass the card's sampling yourself, for example
temperature=1.0, top_p=1.0, top_k=20, presence_penalty=2.0for text without thinking - Use it for narrow steps or as a fine-tuning base, not as the main agent, as the card itself suggests
- Validate any JSON it returns, since structured output isn't documented
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Kimi K3.1 Pro or Qwen3.5-2B?
Qwen3.5-2B scores 50.5 (D) on agent readiness against Kimi K3.1 Pro's 48.6 (D), and leads in 2 of 4 scored categories. Kimi K3.1 Pro leads on agent interface and documentation and upkeep.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/kimi-k3-1-pro-vs-qwen3-5-2b.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/kimi-k3-1-pro.json·/api/v1/tools/qwen3-5-2b.json - From a terminal
anchor compare kimi-k3-1-pro qwen3-5-2b(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "kimi-k3-1-pro", "b": "qwen3-5-2b"}at/mcp, no key