What is Kimi?
Kimi has one of the best free tiers in AI and one of the strangest paid situations. The free Adagio plan gives you unlimited standard chat, document uploads and web browsing on a genuinely capable model — not a stripped-down one designed to make you upgrade.
Which is fortunate, because upgrading is not currently possible. All four paid tiers have shown as sold out since July 2026, after demand outran capacity. Existing subscribers keep their plans and Moonshot says places reopen in batches, but you cannot plan a workflow around that.
What you actually get free is excellent long-document handling and solid multi-step reasoning. What you do not get is meaningful agent usage — roughly six credits, no Agent Swarm, no Kimi Code. Those are the reason to pay, and paying is not on the table.
As with DeepSeek, the deciding question for most professional use is not capability but jurisdiction: data is processed in China, and for client or regulated work that is usually settled before the feature list matters.
Best for: People who want unlimited everyday chat and long-document work without paying, and do not need the agent features.
Kimi pricing
| Plan | Price | What you actually get |
|---|---|---|
| Adagio (free) | $0 | Unlimited standard chat, document uploads and web browsing on a capable model. Around six agent credits, and no Agent Swarm or Kimi Code. For most people this is the whole usable product. |
| Moderato | $19/mo | First paid step: more agent credits and Kimi Code access. Listed as sold out since July 2026. |
| Allegretto / Allegro | $39 / $99/mo | Progressively larger shared credit pools, more concurrent agent tasks and Agent Swarm runs. Also sold out. |
| Vivace | $199/mo | Top tier — highest credit allowance, most concurrent subtasks, Kimi Code at the highest multiplier. Also sold out. |
Prices checked 28 July 2026. Vendors change limits often — treat the caps as indicative and confirm on the pricing page before you buy.
What Kimi is good at
- Reading and questioning very long documents, where its context handling is a real strength
- Everyday chat and drafting without a subscription
- Multi-step reasoning tasks you would otherwise break up by hand
- A free second opinion alongside whichever assistant you already pay for
Use the free tier for what it is genuinely best at
- Upload the longest document you actually need to understand — a report, a contract, a set of readings.
- Ask what it contains and how it is structured before asking anything specific. Long-context handling is where it earns its place.
- Ask it to quote the passage behind any answer you plan to rely on.
- Ignore the agent features for now. They are the paid draw, and the paid tiers cannot currently be bought.
Who should skip Kimi
- Anyone who needs the agent features. They are the reason to pay, and you currently cannot pay — subscriptions have been sold out since July 2026.
- Confidential or regulated work. Data is processed under Chinese jurisdiction, which for most organisations settles it before capability does.
- Teams wanting predictable capacity. Moonshot has said places reopen in batches, which is not something to plan around.
What's good
- The free tier runs a capable model, not a stripped-down one
- Unlimited standard chat, document uploads and web browsing at no cost
- Genuinely strong on long documents and multi-step reasoning
- Open-weight models, so the capability claims can be checked independently
Watch-outs
- Paid tiers have been sold out since July 2026 — you cannot upgrade even if you want to
- Agent features are barely usable on free: roughly six agent credits and no Agent Swarm
- Data is processed under Chinese jurisdiction, which rules it out for a lot of professional work
Kimi FAQ
- Is Kimi free?
- Yes, and the free Adagio tier is unusually good — unlimited standard chat, document uploads and web browsing on a capable model rather than a cut-down one. What free does not include is meaningful agent usage: around six credits, and no Agent Swarm or Kimi Code.
- Can I pay for Kimi?
- Not at the moment. All four paid tiers ($19, $39, $99 and $199 a month) have shown as sold out since July 2026 — demand outran available capacity. Existing subscribers are unaffected, and Moonshot says places reopen in batches.
- Is Kimi better than DeepSeek?
- They are close and both free at the level most people use. Kimi is stronger on very long documents; DeepSeek has no paid tier at all, so nothing is held back. Both process data under Chinese jurisdiction, which for professional work usually matters more than the capability difference.
- Is Kimi safe for work documents?
- Treat it the way you would any consumer AI tool, then add the jurisdiction question. For public or non-sensitive material it is fine. For client, patient or commercially confidential documents, check your organisation's policy — many now address this specifically.
The verdict
One of the best free tiers in AI, attached to paid tiers you currently cannot purchase. Use it free for long-document work and everyday chat. Do not build a workflow on the agent features until Moonshot reopens subscriptions.