Can you run Kimi K2.6 locally?
Kimi family · 2026 · 1.03T parameters (32B activated per token) · Hugging Face model card
Kimi K2.6 is a mixture-of-experts model with 32B activated parameters per token and ~1T total open weights (official card: Total Parameters 1T / Activated Parameters 32B; HF safetensors.total=1,026,879,376,368). Native context is 262,144 tokens (card: 256K). License is Modified MIT (HF license=other). Local VRAM fit uses the 32B active count, not the 1T dense-equivalent: roughly 24 GB at Q4-class (calculated). Weights still occupy ~1T-class disk. Measured speeds: not yet published here.
Minimum: 24 GB+ memory (Q4-class on 32B active, calculated) · Recommended: 32 GB+ for comfortable context headroom (Q4-class on 32B active, calculated)
How much VRAM does Kimi K2.6 need at each quantization?
Kimi K2.6 needs 677.7 GB of VRAM at Q4_K_M. The table below lists weights-only size and total VRAM including overhead for each common quantization level with 4k and 32k token contexts.
| Quantization | Bits / weight | Weights only | Total + KV @4k ctx | Total + KV @32k ctx |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q4_K_M | 4.8 | 616.1 GB | 677.7 GB | 677.7 GB |
| Q5_K_M | 5.7 | 731.7 GB | 804.8 GB | 804.8 GB |
| Q6_K | 6.6 | 847.2 GB | 931.9 GB | 931.9 GB |
| Q8_0 | 8.5 | 1,091.1 GB | 1,200.2 GB | 1,200.2 GB |
| FP16 | 16 | 2,053.8 GB | 2,259.1 GB | 2,259.1 GB |
MLA qk_nope=128 qk_rope=64 v=128 (text_config)
Method: weights = parameters × bits-per-weight (Q4_K_M ≈ 4.8, Q5_K_M ≈ 5.7, Q6_K ≈ 6.6, Q8_0 ≈ 8.5, FP16 = 16), plus 10% loading overhead, plus KV cache from the verified architecture config (61 layers, 64 KV heads, head dim). Source: HF-verified 2026-09-22 via api (gated=false private=false params=1026.88B safetensors.total=1026879376368 downloadable_safetensors_sum=595177988208 ctx=262144 license=other repo=moonshotai/Kimi-K2.6@7eb5002f6aadc958aed6a9177b7ed26bb94011bb layers=61 kv_heads=64). MoE: num_experts=384 num_experts_per_tok=8 active_params_b=32.0 (vendor card; VRAM fit uses active, not dense-equivalent). VRAM figures are documented calculations, not measurements. No tok/s invented.
Which GPUs can run Kimi K2.6 locally?
At Q4_K_M with a 4k context, Kimi K2.6 needs 677.7 GB of VRAM. The lists below are computed live from our GPU database and grouped by how much headroom the card has. Disclosure: CompareAIHardware.com participates in the Amazon Associates program and earns from qualifying purchases through links on this page. Affiliate relationships do not influence our recommendations.
No single consumer GPU in our database runs Kimi K2.6 at Q4_K_M. The 677.7 GB requirement exceeds every listed consumer card; see the Mac and data center options above and below.