Verification Date: February 3, 2026
Methodology: Primary source documentation, screenshot verification, comparative analysis
This page establishes evidence levels for claims made about Kimi k2.5 pricing, capabilities, and technical specifications. For strategic analysis, see the pricing strategy post. For data handling risks, see /risks/kimi/.
Evidence Level Definitions
| Level | Criteria | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| High | Primary source + dated screenshot or official documentation | 90%+ verified |
| Medium | Primary source + supporting signal (community reports, secondary confirmation) | 70-89% likely |
| Low | Partial sources, unconfirmed, or contradictory signals | 50-69% uncertain |
| Verify Needed | Claim made but insufficient evidence | <50% unknown |
Pricing Claims
Claim: “$0.99 first-month pricing available via Kimmmmy AI agent”
Evidence Level: HIGH ✓
Sources:
- Kimi Black Friday Promotion Terms — Official terms document “New User First-Month Deal Bargain” (verified Feb 3, 2026)
- Pricing screenshots from kimi.com/code showing dynamic pricing interface (user verified)
- Observational reports: $0.99 to $11.99 range confirmed by multiple users
Verification Details:
- Mechanism: AI agent “Kimmmmy” negotiates price via conversation
- Range: $0.99 (observed low) to $11.99 (observed high)
- Auto-renewal: Converts to $19/month Moderato after 30 days unless cancelled
- Geographic restriction: “Outside mainland China only”
Caveats:
- Dynamic pricing means individual results vary
- Terms state “AI-generated content is for reference only” — screenshot final offer before accepting
- Promotional offer subject to change without notice
Claim: “Kimi Code Moderato costs $19/month”
Evidence Level: HIGH ✓
Sources:
- kimi.com/code pricing page — Screenshot verified showing “Moderato $19/month” (verified Jan 31, 2026)
- Promotion terms confirming post-trial pricing
Verification Details:
- Base price: $19/month billed monthly
- Annual savings: Allegretto “Save up to $480” per UI element
- Trial: 7-day free, auto-renews to $19 unless cancelled
Invalidation Triggers:
- Pricing change from $19/month
- Trial duration modification
- Auto-renewal terms changed
Claim: “OpenCode Zen offers free Kimi k2.5”
Evidence Level: HIGH ✓
Sources:
- OpenCode documentation and Zen tier description
- User testing confirmed Feb 1, 2026 (via OpenCode dashboard)
- Multiple community reports of ongoing access
Verification Details:
- Cost: $0 (no credit card required)
- Models: Kimi k2.5 + GLM 4.7
- Limitations: Rate limits (spending caps, exact numbers unpublished)
- Status: Active as of Feb 3, 2026
Critical Update:
- Kilo Code removed free Kimi k2.5 Feb 3, 2026
- OpenCode Zen is now the only ongoing free option
- Monitor for potential terms changes as usage concentrates
Claim: “Kilo Code offers free Kimi k2.5”
Evidence Level: HIGH — DEPRECATED ✗
Sources:
- Previously verified via kilo.ai dashboard (Feb 1, 2026)
- User reports of removal (Feb 3, 2026)
Status: CLAIM NOW FALSE
Update Log:
- Jan 27-Feb 3, 2026: Free Kimi k2.5 via hosted tier (promotional)
- Feb 3, 2026: Free tier removed — Kilo Code now requires API keys or paid subscription
- Current status: BYOK (Bring Your Own Keys) only for Kimi k2.5
Implication: Content referencing free Kilo Code Kimi k2.5 is outdated and requires updating.
Claim: “OK Computer units expire monthly”
Evidence Level: HIGH ✓
Sources:
- Kimi Black Friday Promotion Terms Appendix and Section II.B.5
Verification Details:
- Pre-Jan 1, 2026 credits: Expired Jan 31, 2026
- Post-Jan 1, 2026 credits: Valid only for calendar month granted, expire at month start
- Reward amount: 10 units for successful referral (one-time per referrer)
- Usage: OK Computer feature only (not general Kimi usage)
Caveats:
- Aggressive expiration policy reduces real value
- Monthly calendar expiration means Jan 31st credits expire Feb 1
Technical Capability Claims
Claim: “Kimi k2.5 scores 76.8% on SWE-bench Verified”
Evidence Level: HIGH ✓
Sources:
- Hugging Face model card — Official model documentation (Jan 27, 2026)
- Kimi.com technical blog — Official announcement
Verification Details:
- Score: 76.8% SWE-bench Verified
- Mode: Non-thinking mode (thinking mode scores higher on reasoning benchmarks)
- Comparison: Within 4 points of Claude Opus 4.5 (80.9%)
- SWE-bench Multilingual: 73.0% (additional verified metric)
Methodology Note:
- SWE-bench Verified is a standardized software engineering benchmark
- Scores are reproducible via official evaluation harness
- Moonshot’s reported score matches community verification attempts
Claim: “Kimi k2.5 supports up to 100 sub-agents (swarm)”
Evidence Level: MEDIUM ⚠️
Sources:
- Kimi.com blog and marketing materials — Claims of “up to 100 sub-agents”
- Moonshot AI documentation: “Research Preview Agent Swarm” on Allegretto+
- Technical architecture: MoE (Mixture of Experts) enables parallel processing
Verification Details:
- Moderato ($19): “Agent multi-tasking” — Limited parallel agents, NOT full swarm
- Allegretto ($39): “Research Preview Agent Swarm” — Claims up to 100 sub-agents (beta)
- Status: Beta feature, not personally tested as of Feb 3, 2026
- Availability: Paid tiers only (Allegretto, Vivace)
Gaps:
- No independent third-party verification of 100-agent coordination
- “Up to 100” implies maximum, not typical or guaranteed
- Coordination mechanism unclear (true orchestration vs parallel API calls)
Recommendation: Treat as marketing claim pending independent testing. Current status: Documented, not verified through hands-on testing.
Claim: “Kimi k2.5 has 256K context window”
Evidence Level: HIGH ✓
Sources:
- Moonshot Platform documentation
- Hugging Face model card technical specifications
Verification Details:
- Context: 256,000 tokens
- Equivalent: ~200,000 words or large codebases
- Comparison: 28% larger than Claude Opus 4.5 (200K), 4x smaller than Gemini 3 Flash (1M)
Claim: “Kimi k2.5 is natively multimodal”
Evidence Level: HIGH ✓
Sources:
- Technical blog: “Built on continued pretraining over 15 trillion mixed visual and text tokens”
- Model card: MoonViT vision encoder specification
- Community demonstrations: Video-to-code, image-to-UI examples
Verification Details:
- Architecture: Native vision encoder (MoonViT)
- Capabilities: Video, image, text processing
- Resolution: Up to 3.2 million pixels
- Use cases: Video-to-code reconstruction, UI generation from mockups
Policy and Terms Claims
Claim: “Mainland China users excluded”
Evidence Level: HIGH ✓
Sources:
- Kimi Promotion Terms Section “Event Region”
Verification Details:
- Quote: “This event is only available outside mainland China. Users in mainland China are not supported.”
- Some regions restricted due to “payment capabilities or policy regulations”
Implication: Moonshot prioritizes international users over domestic market despite Chinese company status.
Claim: “No training on API calls”
Evidence Level: MEDIUM ⚠️
Sources:
- Moonshot Platform documentation (implied by API business tier)
- Community reports and developer discussions
- Comparison to Anthropic/OpenAI API policies
Verification Details:
- API tier: Claimed no training (standard for paid API services)
- Free tiers: Likely used for training (implied by terms mentioning “data collection”)
- Documentation: Less explicit than Anthropic’s detailed policies
Gaps:
- No detailed data handling白皮书
- Less transparency than US competitors
- Terms subject to change
Recommendation: Assume API tier is safe for commercial use, but free tiers train on data (standard industry practice).
Claims Pending Verification
“Agent swarm 4.5x speedup on research tasks”
Status: VERIFY NEEDED
Source: Kimi marketing materials Gap: No independent benchmark, no controlled testing performed Plan: Test and measure once Allegretto access obtained
“Allegretto offers 2x quota vs Moderato”
Status: MEDIUM ⚠️
Source: Pricing page claims Gap: Exact quota numbers not published, “2x” is relative claim Verification: Needs documented request limits from each tier
“Vivace provides priority access during peak hours”
Status: MEDIUM ⚠️
Source: Pricing page UI element Gap: No objective measure of “priority” vs standard access Verification: Requires comparative load testing
Verification Methodology Notes
Sources Hierarchy
- Primary: Official documentation, screenshots, API responses
- Secondary: Community reports, developer forums, social media
- Tertiary: Analyst reports, news articles, aggregators
Update Frequency
- Pricing claims: Verified weekly (promotional offers change)
- Technical specs: Verified monthly (stable but worth confirming)
- Policy terms: Verified quarterly (watch for ToS changes)
Invalidation Triggers
Articles should be updated when:
- Pricing changes from documented amounts
- Feature availability shifts tiers
- Terms modify data handling policies
- Competitive landscape changes significantly
Verification Checklist for Content
When referencing Kimi claims in articles, include:
- Evidence level tag (high/medium/low)
- Last verified date
- Primary source link
- Caveats or limitations noted
- Invalidation triggers documented
Example:
| |
Related Links
- Kimi Strategy Analysis — Context for promotional pricing
- Kimi Access Guide — How to access verified pricing
- Kimi Data Handling Risks — Privacy analysis with evidence gaps noted
- Kimi k2.5 Model Guide — Technical specifications
- Kimi Code Tool Guide — Pricing and trial verification
Verification methodology: Primary source documentation review, screenshot verification, community signal aggregation
Last comprehensive review: February 3, 2026
Next scheduled review: February 10, 2026 (pricing), March 3, 2026 (technical specs)