Pick Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost or runs a 295b model at the cost of a 21b — only 21b parameters active per token. Pick LongCat-2.0 for near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months or massive native 1m context at near-linear cost via sparse attention.
Hunyuan Hy3 (Tencent) and LongCat-2.0 (Meituan) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Hunyuan Hy3 is a 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. LongCat-2.0 is a trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips. Their biggest split is context window, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences
Context window: LongCat-2.0 holds 3.9× more — 1M (~1,500 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Specifications
Spec
Hunyuan Hy3
LongCat-2.0
Provider
Tencent (China)
Meituan (China)
Released
July 6, 2026
July 5, 2026
Context window
256K (~384 pages)
1M (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)
Open weight (self-host / free)
Open weight (self-host / free)
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, code
text, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost: Hunyuan Hy3 — A core design strength of Hunyuan Hy3.
Runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token: Hunyuan Hy3 — A core design strength of Hunyuan Hy3.
Clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out: Hunyuan Hy3 — A core design strength of Hunyuan Hy3.
Near-frontier agentic coding — topped OpenRouter anonymously as 'Owl Alpha' for two months: LongCat-2.0 — A core design strength of LongCat-2.0.
Massive native 1M context at near-linear cost via sparse attention: LongCat-2.0 — A core design strength of LongCat-2.0.
Fully MIT-licensed 1.6T-parameter mixture-of-experts (about 48B active): LongCat-2.0 — A core design strength of LongCat-2.0.
Largest single-prompt input: LongCat-2.0 — Its 1M window is about 3.9× larger, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: LongCat-2.0 — Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost: Hunyuan Hy3 — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months: LongCat-2.0 — That is its strongest area.
Hunyuan Hy3: where it fits
A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. Released July 6, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token, clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out, and broad day-one ecosystem support plus an FP8 checkpoint.
Its trade-offs are real: benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion, and the hosted API is China-jurisdiction, and self-hosting a 295B MoE still needs serious hardware. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
LongCat-2.0: where it fits
A trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips. Released July 5, 2026 by Meituan, it is built for near-frontier agentic coding — topped OpenRouter anonymously as 'Owl Alpha' for two months, massive native 1M context at near-linear cost via sparse attention, fully MIT-licensed 1.6T-parameter mixture-of-experts (about 48B active), and trained end to end on domestic Chinese chips, independent of Nvidia hardware.
Its trade-offs: a 1.6T model is extremely expensive to self-host, so most use leans on the China-hosted API, and headline scores are vendor-reported on SWE-Bench Pro, not the Verified set. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
The bottom line for this matchup
Hunyuan Hy3 and LongCat-2.0 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. LongCat-2.0 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, LongCat-2.0 for near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hunyuan Hy3 or LongCat-2.0 better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Hunyuan Hy3 leans toward frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost while LongCat-2.0 leans toward near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Hunyuan Hy3 or LongCat-2.0?
They are priced almost identically, so cost will not decide between them.
Which has the bigger context window?
LongCat-2.0 — 1M vs 256K, about 3.9× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Hunyuan Hy3 and LongCat-2.0 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Hunyuan Hy3, LongCat-2.0 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Hunyuan Hy3 or LongCat-2.0?
Hunyuan Hy3 — released July 6, 2026, about 1 days after LongCat-2.0.
Hunyuan Hy3 vs LongCat-2.0
Tencent · China | Meituan · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost or runs a 295b model at the cost of a 21b — only 21b parameters active per token. Pick LongCat-2.0 for near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months or massive native 1m context at near-linear cost via sparse attention.
Hunyuan Hy3 (Tencent) and LongCat-2.0 (Meituan) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Hunyuan Hy3 is a 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. LongCat-2.0 is a trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips. Their biggest split is context window, and the breakdown below shows exactly how that plays out for your workload.
Key differences at a glance
▸Context window: LongCat-2.0 holds 3.9× more — 1M (~1,500 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
Hunyuan Hy3
LongCat-2.0
Provider
Tencent (China)
Meituan (China)
Released
July 6, 2026
July 5, 2026
Context window
256K (~384 pages)
1M (~1,500 pages)
Price (in/out)
Open weight (self-host / free)
Open weight (self-host / free)
Open weight?
Yes — self-hostable
Yes — self-hostable
Modalities
text, code
text, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost
Hunyuan Hy3
A core design strength of Hunyuan Hy3.
Runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token
Hunyuan Hy3
A core design strength of Hunyuan Hy3.
Clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out
Hunyuan Hy3
A core design strength of Hunyuan Hy3.
Near-frontier agentic coding — topped OpenRouter anonymously as 'Owl Alpha' for two months
LongCat-2.0
A core design strength of LongCat-2.0.
Massive native 1M context at near-linear cost via sparse attention
Its 1M window is about 3.9× larger, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ LongCat-2.0
Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost
→ Hunyuan Hy3
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months
→ LongCat-2.0
That is its strongest area.
Hunyuan Hy3: where it fits
A 295B Apache-2.0 open MoE that reaches frontier reasoning quality while running at roughly 21B active-parameter cost. Released July 6, 2026 by Tencent, it is built for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (GPQA Diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, runs a 295B model at the cost of a 21B — only 21B parameters active per token, clean, unrestricted Apache-2.0 license with no geographic carve-out, and broad day-one ecosystem support plus an FP8 checkpoint.
Its trade-offs are real: benchmarks are largely self-reported, and the ultra-low hosted pricing is a limited promotion, and the hosted API is China-jurisdiction, and self-hosting a 295B MoE still needs serious hardware. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
LongCat-2.0: where it fits
A trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips. Released July 5, 2026 by Meituan, it is built for near-frontier agentic coding — topped OpenRouter anonymously as 'Owl Alpha' for two months, massive native 1M context at near-linear cost via sparse attention, fully MIT-licensed 1.6T-parameter mixture-of-experts (about 48B active), and trained end to end on domestic Chinese chips, independent of Nvidia hardware.
Its trade-offs: a 1.6T model is extremely expensive to self-host, so most use leans on the China-hosted API, and headline scores are vendor-reported on SWE-Bench Pro, not the Verified set. As an open-weight model, its running cost is your own hardware rather than a per-token fee.
The bottom line for this matchup
Hunyuan Hy3 and LongCat-2.0 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. LongCat-2.0 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Hunyuan Hy3 for frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost, LongCat-2.0 for near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both Hunyuan Hy3 and LongCat-2.0 without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Hunyuan Hy3 leans toward frontier-level reported reasoning and science (gpqa diamond 90.4) at low active-parameter cost while LongCat-2.0 leans toward near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, Hunyuan Hy3 or LongCat-2.0?
They are priced almost identically, so cost will not decide between them.
Which has the bigger context window?
LongCat-2.0 — 1M vs 256K, about 3.9× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Hunyuan Hy3 and LongCat-2.0 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Hunyuan Hy3, LongCat-2.0 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Hunyuan Hy3 or LongCat-2.0?
Hunyuan Hy3 — released July 6, 2026, about 1 days after LongCat-2.0.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.