text model comparison
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM-5.3
Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM-5.3 are both current text models, from Google and Z.ai. Gemini 3.8 Flash is 46% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GLM-5.3, $0.75 vs $1.40. On Arena Text, Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 1496 Elo and GLM-5.3 1481 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).
- Higher Arena Text
- Gemini 3.8 Flash1496 Elo against 1481 Elo
- Lower price per 1M input tokens
- Gemini 3.8 Flash$0.75 against $1.40
- Longer context window
- Gemini 3.8 Flash1.05M tokens against 1M tokens
- Newer release
- Gemini 3.8 FlashSep 2026 against Aug 2026
Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03
Side by side
Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM-5.3, line by line
Prices in effect today, compared at the same tier wherever both list one. The better value in each row is highlighted.
| Fact | Gemini 3.8 Flash | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $0.75 (better) | $1.40 |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $3.75 (better) | $4.40 |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | 1496 Elo (#6 of 51) (better) | 1481 Elo (#16 of 51) |
| Arena WebDev | 1583 Elo (#25 of 45) | 1623 Elo (#21 of 45) (better) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 68.4% (#26 of 42) | 68.8% (#25 of 42) (better) |
| GPQA Diamond | 95.4% (#4 of 41) (better) | 90.9% (#23 of 41) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 69.7% (#8 of 38) (better) | 41% (#29 of 38) |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | Z.ai | |
| Release date | September 2, 2026 | August 18, 2026 |
| Access | API only | API and open weights |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Input | text, image, audio, video | text |
| Output | text | text |
Charts
Against every current text model
Where Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM-5.3 land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.
Where each stands
On Arena Text, Gemini 3.8 Flash ranks #6 and GLM-5.3 #16 of 51 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#6of 51
1,496 Elo · ahead of 90%
GLM-5.3:#16of 51
1,481 Elo · ahead of 68%
Arena WebDev
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#25of 45
1,583 Elo · ahead of 45%
GLM-5.3:#21of 45
1,623 Elo · ahead of 55%
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#26of 42
68.4% · ahead of 39%
GLM-5.3:#25of 42
68.8% · ahead of 41%
GPQA Diamond
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#4of 41
95.4% · ahead of 90%
GLM-5.3:#23of 41
90.9% · ahead of 45%
SimpleQA Verified
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#8of 38
69.7% · ahead of 78%
GLM-5.3:#29of 38
41% · ahead of 22%
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#20of 52
$0.75 · cheaper than 63%
GLM-5.3:#27of 52
$1.40 · cheaper than 49%
Price per 1M output tokens
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#23of 52
$3.75 · cheaper than 57%
GLM-5.3:#26of 52
$4.40 · cheaper than 51%
Context window
Gemini 3.8 Flash:#11of 64
1.05M tokens · longer than 67%
GLM-5.3:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Quality against price
Gemini 3.8 Flash scores 1,496 at $1.50; GLM-5.3 scores 1,481 at $2.15 (blended price per 1M tokens). The line joins the current models no other beats on both price and Arena Text score; hover any point to name it.
Quality against price: the data
| Model | Provider | Blended price per 1M tokens | Arena Text (Elo) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 4 Argon | $4 | 1,520 | |
| Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $8 | 1,509 |
| Muse Wonder | Meta | $8 | 1,507 |
| Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | $20 | 1,504 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash | $1.50 | 1,496 | |
| Muse Spark 1.3 | Meta | $2 | 1,495 |
| Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,492 |
| Kimi K3 | Moonshot Kimi | $6 | 1,488 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $8 | 1,485 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | $3 | 1,483 | |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $11 | 1,482 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | $10 | 1,482 |
| Qwen3.8-Max | Alibaba Qwen | $3 | 1,482 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,481 |
| GLM-5.3 | Z.ai | $2.15 | 1,481 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.54 | 1,480 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,477 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai | $0.24 | 1,477 |
| GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $20 | 1,476 |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.52 | 1,476 |
| GPT-5.4 | OpenAI | $5.63 | 1,475 |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | $1.13 | 1,473 | |
| Grok 4.20 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,472 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $4.50 | 1,467 |
| Grok 4.5 | xAI | $3 | 1,465 |
| DeepSeek-V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.98 | 1,465 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | Anthropic | $4 | 1,462 |
| GPT-6 Sol | OpenAI | $4 | 1,458 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.85 | 1,456 | |
| Grok 4.6 | xAI | $3 | 1,455 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.45 | 1,453 |
| MiMo-V2.6-Flash | Xiaomi MiMo | $0.18 | 1,448 |
| Step 5 Preview | StepFun | $1.43 | 1,448 |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.56 | 1,442 |
| GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.20 | 1,441 |
| Grok 4.7 | xAI | $3 | 1,441 |
| Mistral Large 4 | Mistral AI | $1.05 | 1,432 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 | Anthropic | $0.20 | 1,425 |
| GPT-4.1 | OpenAI | $3.50 | 1,415 |
| Solar Pro 4 | Upstage | $0.52 | 1,388 |
| GPT-4.1 mini | OpenAI | $0.70 | 1,383 |
| GPT-4.1 nano | OpenAI | $0.18 | 1,322 |
Cost
What each costs
Example workloads at each provider's listed rates, then every other rate either one lists. The cheaper figure in each row is highlighted.
The same work, priced
For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3 costs 1.5 times as much as Gemini 3.8 Flash, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
GLM-5.3 costs 1.5× as much
- Gemini 3.8 Flash
- $15
- GLM-5.3
- $22.80
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
GLM-5.3 costs 1.4× as much
- Gemini 3.8 Flash
- $8.93
- GLM-5.3
- $12.54
| Workload or rate | Gemini 3.8 Flash | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $15 (better) | $22.80 |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $8.93 (better) | $12.54 |
| The same, through the batch API | $7.50 | Not listed |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.075 (better) | $0.26 |
| 1M input tokens, batch | $0.375 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, batch | $1.875 | Not listed |
| 1M input tokens, priority | $1.35 | Not listed |
| 1M output tokens, priority | $6.75 | Not listed |
Your own bill will differ. These figures use list prices and example workloads. The AI Model Cost Audit reviews your real usage, shortlists models that score as well for each task for less, and estimates the savings.
Launch price $100, regular price $150
Verdict
When to choose each
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $0.75 and $3.75 vs $1.40 and $4.40 per 1M tokens
- Higher Arena Text score, 1496 Elo vs 1481 Elo
- Higher GPQA Diamond score, 95.4% vs 90.9%
- Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 69.7% vs 41%
- Accepts image, audio and video input
- Cheaper cached input, $0.075 vs $0.26 per 1M tokens
- Batch pricing, $0.375 input and $1.875 output per 1M tokens
Best for
- High-volume agentic and coding workloads where per-token cost dominates the decision
- Multimodal pipelines that need audio, video and PDF input in one model
Watch out for
- The listed price is promotional and ends 31 December 2026; on 1 January 2027 input and output both double, to $1.50 and $7.50, and cached input goes from $0.075 to $0.15
- Output pricing is billed inclusive of thinking tokens, so reasoning-heavy prompts cost more than the output length suggests
- Google’s published comparisons are against its own previous Flash release and were not independently reproduced here
GLM-5.3
Where it leads
- Higher Arena WebDev score, 1623 Elo vs 1583 Elo
- Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 68.8% vs 68.4%
- Longer responses, up to 128,000 vs 65,536 output tokens
- Open weights you can run yourself
Best for
- Long-horizon agentic coding
- Self-hosted reasoning with permissive weights
Watch out for
- Text input only, and reasoning cannot be turned off: requests that disable thinking fail
- The licence requires a Z.ai security review before very large model-as-a-service operators use it commercially
From benchmark to production
Building on Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM-5.3?
Public scores rarely hold on your own data. We test both models on your real tasks, then build the agent or pipeline around the one that wins.
AI Model Cost AuditLaunch price $100, regular price $150What the audit includes
FAQ
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM-5.3 FAQ
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM-5.3?
Gemini 3.8 Flash is 46% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GLM-5.3, $0.75 vs $1.40. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $15 and GLM-5.3 $22.80 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM-5.3?
Gemini 3.8 Flash charges $0.075 per 1M cached input tokens, 90% below its standard input rate, and GLM-5.3 $0.26, 81% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $8.93 and GLM-5.3 $12.54.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM-5.3?
Gemini 3.8 Flash leads on Arena Text, 1496 Elo to 1481 Elo; GLM-5.3 leads on Arena WebDev, 1623 Elo to 1583 Elo; GLM-5.3 leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 68.8% to 68.4%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM-5.3?
Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000). GLM-5.3 returns up to 128,000 tokens per response, Gemini 3.8 Flash 65,536.
How do Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM-5.3 differ in features?
Gemini 3.8 Flash takes text, image, audio and video input; GLM-5.3 takes text.
Can I run Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM-5.3 myself?
GLM-5.3 is released as open weights you can run yourself; Gemini 3.8 Flash is available through its provider's API only.
Further reading
More on Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM-5.3
Articles on Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM-5.3
- Gemini 3.8 Flash TTS: Price, Rankings and the Fine PrintSeptember 25, 2026
Related comparisons
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Mistral Large 4
- GLM-5.3 vs Mistral Large 4
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Gemini 4 Argon
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs GLM-5.3
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GPT-6.1 Sol
- Gemini 3.6 Flash vs GLM-5.3
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- GLM-5.3 vs Grok 4.20
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- GLM-5.3 vs Grok 4.3
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- GLM-5.3 vs GLM-5.3-Flash
Production evaluation
Choosing between Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM-5.3?
Public benchmarks narrow the shortlist. We run both on your own tasks, data and cost limits, then build the routing and review controls to run the winner in production.
- A head-to-head evaluation on your real workload
- Routing between models by cost and difficulty