LongCat-2.0 vs LongCat-2.5
Meituan · China | Meituan · China · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Both are Meituan models. LongCat-2.5 is the newer, generally stronger default; reach for LongCat-2.0 when its lower price or a specific cost or latency profile matters more than the latest capabilities.
LongCat-2.0 and LongCat-2.5 are both Meituan models, so the real question is not which lab to trust but which tier fits your workload and budget. LongCat-2.0 is a trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips. LongCat-2.5 is meituan's November 2, 2026 natively multimodal successor to LongCat-2.0 - 1.6T parameters and 1M context at $0.30/$1.20, with open weights planned but undated. Since both come from the same lab, the comparison below focuses on the tier-and-cost trade-offs that actually separate them.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Cost model: LongCat-2.0 ships open weights you can self-host (hardware cost only, no per-token fee), while LongCat-2.5 is API-metered at $0.3/$1.2 per 1M tokens. Your choice depends on whether you want zero marginal cost at the price of running infrastructure.
- ▸Context window: both advertise 1M (~1,500 pages). Tie on paper — test on your own long inputs, since usable recall varies by model.
- ▸Recency: LongCat-2.5 is the newer model by about 4 months (released November 2, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | LongCat-2.0 | LongCat-2.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Meituan (China) | Meituan (China) |
| Released | July 5, 2026 | November 2, 2026 |
| Context window | 1M (~1,500 pages) | 1M tokens (~1,500 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | Open weight (self-host / free) | $0.3/$1.2 per 1M tokens |
| Open weight? | Yes — self-hostable | No — API only |
| Modalities | text, code | text, image, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | Not published | Not published |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Near-frontier agentic coding — topped OpenRouter anonymously as 'Owl Alpha' for two months
LongCat-2.0
Open weights make this possible at all — LongCat-2.5 is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.
Massive native 1M context at near-linear cost via sparse attention
LongCat-2.0
A trillion-parameter, MIT-licensed open MoE delivering near-frontier agentic coding at 1M context — trained entirely on Chinese chips — and its weights are open while LongCat-2.5 is API-only.
Fully MIT-licensed 1.6T-parameter mixture-of-experts (about 48B active)
LongCat-2.0
LongCat-2.0 lists fully MIT-licensed 1.6T-parameter mixture-of-experts (about 48B active) among its strengths; LongCat-2.5 does not.
Native multimodal upgrade to LongCat-2.0 - 1.6T total parameters, about 48B active per token
LongCat-2.5
Meituan's November 2, 2026 natively multimodal successor to LongCat-2.0 - 1.6T parameters and 1M context at $0.30/$1.20, with open weights planned but undated — and it is the newer of the two.
Limited-time API price of $0.30/$1.20 per million tokens (cached input $0.006)
LongCat-2.5
LongCat-2.5 lists limited-time API price of $0.30/$1.20 per million tokens (cached input $0.006) among its strengths; LongCat-2.0 does not.
Meituan-reported Terminal-Bench v2.1 of 88.4, up from 70.8 for LongCat-2.0
LongCat-2.5
LongCat-2.0 is comparatively weak here — headline scores are vendor-reported on SWE-Bench Pro, not the Verified set
Lowest cost at scale
LongCat-2.0
Its weights are open, so at volume you pay for your own hardware instead of LongCat-2.5's $0.3/$1.2 per 1M tokens.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ LongCat-2.0
At Open weight (self-host / free) it undercuts LongCat-2.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs
→ LongCat-2.0
Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; LongCat-2.5 is API-only.
Anyone whose priority is near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months
→ LongCat-2.0
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is native multimodal upgrade to longcat-2.0 - 1.6t total parameters, about 48b active per token
→ LongCat-2.5
That is its strongest area.
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 are real: 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.
LongCat-2.5: where it fits
Meituan's November 2, 2026 natively multimodal successor to LongCat-2.0 - 1.6T parameters and 1M context at $0.30/$1.20, with open weights planned but undated. Released November 2, 2026 by Meituan, it is built for native multimodal upgrade to LongCat-2.0 - 1.6T total parameters, about 48B active per token, limited-time API price of $0.30/$1.20 per million tokens (cached input $0.006), meituan-reported Terminal-Bench v2.1 of 88.4, up from 70.8 for LongCat-2.0, and openAI- and Anthropic-compatible API endpoints with a 1M-token context window.
Its trade-offs: aPI-only for now - GitHub and Hugging Face releases are planned but undated, and the license is unconfirmed (LongCat-2.0 is MIT), the $0.30/$1.20 rate is labeled limited-time, and Meituan says prices are subject to change, and benchmarks are Meituan's own, and sources found no independent score at launch. At $0.3 in / $1.2 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Because LongCat-2.0 and LongCat-2.5 come from the same lab (Meituan), they share the same training philosophy and ecosystem — the decision is purely tier vs. cost. LongCat-2.5 is the more capable, more recent option; the other earns its place only when its price or latency profile fits a specific job better. Most teams should default to LongCat-2.5 and drop down only with a concrete reason.
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See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is LongCat-2.0 or LongCat-2.5 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, LongCat-2.0 leans toward near-frontier agentic coding — topped openrouter anonymously as 'owl alpha' for two months while LongCat-2.5 leans toward native multimodal upgrade to longcat-2.0 - 1.6t total parameters, about 48b active per token, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, LongCat-2.0 or LongCat-2.5?
LongCat-2.0 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while LongCat-2.5 is API-metered at $0.3/$1.2 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.
Which has the bigger context window?
Both advertise 1M (~1,500 pages). Remember advertised ≠ usable: recall typically degrades before the ceiling.
Should I upgrade from LongCat-2.0 to LongCat-2.5?
Since both are Meituan models, the newer one (LongCat-2.5) is usually the better default unless you need a specific cost or latency profile from the other.
Which is newer, LongCat-2.0 or LongCat-2.5?
LongCat-2.5 — released November 2, 2026, about 4 months after LongCat-2.0.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.