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Van Data Team

text model comparison

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Mercury 3

GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 3 are both current text models, from Z.ai and Inception. GLM-5.3-Flash is 25% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Mercury 3, $0.15 vs $0.20. Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.

Lower price per 1M input tokens
GLM-5.3-Flash$0.15 against $0.20
Newer release
Mercury 3Oct 2026 against Aug 2026

Data verified October 23, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-23

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Side by side

GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 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.

FactGLM-5.3-FlashMercury 3
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$0.15 (better)$0.20
Price per 1M output tokens$0.50 (better)$0.70
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text1475 Elo (#21 of 49)Not measured
GPQA Diamond90.2% (#27 of 40)Not measured
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)55.8% (#31 of 40)Not measured
Specs
ProviderZ.aiInception
Release dateAugust 26, 2026October 19, 2026
AccessAPI and open weightsAPI only
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens131,072 tokens
Inputtext, image, videotext
Outputtexttext

No independent benchmark has scored both models yet. Each rank counts the current models scored on that benchmark.

Scores:Arena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12

Charts

Against every current text model

Where GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 3 land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.

Where each stands

Only GLM-5.3-Flash has a current Arena Text score: #21 of 49. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.

GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 3 among the current text models, one row per benchmark, price and context window.

Independent benchmarks

Arena Text

GLM-5.3-Flash:#21of 49

1,475 Elo · ahead of 52%

Mercury 3: Not scored

GPQA Diamond

GLM-5.3-Flash:#27of 40

90.2% · ahead of 33%

Mercury 3: Not scored

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

GLM-5.3-Flash:#31of 40

55.8% · ahead of 23%

Mercury 3: Not scored

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

GLM-5.3-Flash:#5of 49

$0.15 · cheaper than 90%

Mercury 3:#7of 49

$0.20 · cheaper than 83%

Price per 1M output tokens

GLM-5.3-Flash:#3of 49

$0.50 · cheaper than 92%

Mercury 3:#7of 49

$0.70 · cheaper than 88%

Context window

GLM-5.3-Flash:#26of 64

1M tokens · longer than 22%

Mercury 3:#26of 64

1M tokens · longer than 22%

Scores fromArena · 2026-10-12Epoch AI · 2026-10-12

Quality against price

Arena Text · measured October 8, 2026

GLM-5.3-Flash scores 1,475 at $0.238 (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 priceArena Text score against price for 41 text models, GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 3 marked.1,2501,3001,3501,4001,4501,5001,550$0.30$1$3$10MOST ATTRACTIVE QUADRANTMedian price $3Median 1,475Blended price per 1M tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scaleArena Text (Elo)GLM-5.3-Flash
Quality against price: the data
Arena Text score against price for 41 text models, GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 3 marked.
ModelProviderBlended price per 1M tokensArena Text (Elo)
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$41,525
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic$81,507
Claude Fable 5Anthropic$201,504
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic$201,501
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle$1.501,497
Muse Spark 1.3Meta$21,494
Claude Opus 5Anthropic$101,490
Kimi K3Moonshot Kimi$61,488
Gemini 3.7 FlashGoogle$1.501,486
GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$81,485
GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI$41,484
Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba Qwen$31,483
GPT-5.5OpenAI$111,482
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle$31,482
Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic$101,481
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi MiMo$0.541,480
GLM-5.3Z.ai$2.151,478
Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic$41,476
GPT-5.4OpenAI$5.631,475
GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$201,475
DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek$0.521,475
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai$0.241,475
Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle$1.131,473
Grok 4.20xAI$1.561,472
GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI$4.501,466
Grok 4.5xAI$31,466
DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek$1.981,465
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic$41,461
GPT-6 SolOpenAI$41,456
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle$0.851,455
Grok 4.6xAI$31,454
GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI$0.451,452
MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi MiMo$0.181,451
GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.201,443
Grok 4.7xAI$31,443
Grok 4.3xAI$1.561,442
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI$2.061,429
GPT-4.1OpenAI$3.501,415
Solar Pro 4Upstage$0.521,386
GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI$0.701,383
GPT-4.1 nanoOpenAI$0.181,322

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, Mercury 3 costs 1.4 times as much as GLM-5.3-Flash, at each provider's listed rates.

What GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 3cost for the same work, at each provider's listed rates.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    Mercury 3 costs 1.4× as much

    GLM-5.3-Flash
    $2.50
    Mercury 3
    $3.40

  • The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached

    Mercury 3 costs 1.3× as much

    GLM-5.3-Flash
    $1.42
    Mercury 3
    $1.78
Workload or rateGLM-5.3-FlashMercury 3
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$2.50 (better)$3.40
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$1.42 (better)$1.78
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.03$0.02 (better)

Verdict

When to choose each

GLM-5.3-Flash

Where it leads

  • Lower input and output prices, $0.15 and $0.50 vs $0.20 and $0.70 per 1M tokens
  • Accepts image and video input
  • Open weights you can run yourself

Best for

  • Low-cost coding from screenshots or screen recordings
  • Document and research agents on a budget

Watch out for

  • Thinking cannot be disabled
  • A faster GLM-5.3-FlashX is a separate model id at $0.37 input and $1.25 output per 1M tokens
Full GLM-5.3-Flash profile

Mercury 3

Where it leads

  • Cheaper cached input, $0.02 vs $0.03 per 1M tokens

Best for

  • Latency-critical agent loops and real-time search agents
  • High-volume text generation at low cost

Watch out for

  • The recorded rates are list prices; a 50% launch discount was running with no published end date
  • Inception comparisons are its own, and no independent benchmark score is recorded here yet
Full Mercury 3 profile

From benchmark to production

Building on GLM-5.3-Flash or Mercury 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.

Book a consultationAI agent development

FAQ

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Mercury 3 FAQ

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3-Flash or Mercury 3?

GLM-5.3-Flash is 25% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Mercury 3, $0.15 vs $0.20. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3-Flash costs $2.50 and Mercury 3 $3.40 at standard rates.

Which is cheaper with prompt caching, GLM-5.3-Flash or Mercury 3?

GLM-5.3-Flash charges $0.03 per 1M cached input tokens, 80% below its standard input rate, and Mercury 3 $0.02, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3-Flash costs $1.42 and Mercury 3 $1.78.

Which has the larger context window, GLM-5.3-Flash or Mercury 3?

Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context. Mercury 3 returns up to 131,072 tokens per response, GLM-5.3-Flash 128,000.

How do GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 3 differ in features?

GLM-5.3-Flash takes text, image and video input; Mercury 3 takes text.

Can I run GLM-5.3-Flash or Mercury 3 myself?

GLM-5.3-Flash is released as open weights you can run yourself; Mercury 3 is available through its provider's API only.

Further reading

More on GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 3

Related comparisons

Production evaluation

Choosing between GLM-5.3-Flash and Mercury 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
Compare all modelsBook a consultation