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Van Data Team

text model comparison

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Step 5 Preview

GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview are both current text models, from Z.ai and StepFun. GLM-5.3-Flash is 85% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Step 5 Preview, $0.15 vs $1. On Arena Text, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 1475 Elo and Step 5 Preview 1449 Elo (Arena, measured November 11, 2026). Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.

Higher Arena Text
GLM-5.3-Flash1475 Elo against 1449 Elo
Lower price per 1M input tokens
GLM-5.3-Flash$0.15 against $1

Data verified November 15, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-15

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Side by side

GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview, 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-FlashStep 5 Preview
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$0.15 (better)$1
Price per 1M output tokens$0.50 (better)$2.70
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text1475 Elo (#18 of 50) (better)1449 Elo (#32 of 50)
Arena WebDev1609 Elo (#24 of 45) (better)1573 Elo (#31 of 45)
GPQA Diamond90.2% (#28 of 40)Not measured
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)55.8% (#31 of 39)Not measured
Specs
ProviderZ.aiStepFun
Release dateAugust 26, 2026Not reported
AccessAPI and open weightsAPI only
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens64,000 tokens
Inputtext, image, videotext, image, video
Outputtexttext

Scores:Arena · 2026-11-15Epoch AI · 2026-11-11

Open both in the interactive comparison

Charts

Against every current text model

Where GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.

Where each stands

On Arena Text, GLM-5.3-Flash ranks #18 and Step 5 Preview #32 of 50 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.

GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview among the current text models, one row per benchmark, price and context window.

Independent benchmarks

Arena Text

GLM-5.3-Flash:#18of 50

1,475 Elo · ahead of 61%

Step 5 Preview:#32of 50

1,449 Elo · ahead of 37%

Arena WebDev

GLM-5.3-Flash:#24of 45

1,609 Elo · ahead of 45%

Step 5 Preview:#31of 45

1,573 Elo · ahead of 32%

GPQA Diamond

GLM-5.3-Flash:#28of 40

90.2% · ahead of 28%

Step 5 Preview: Not scored

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

GLM-5.3-Flash:#31of 39

55.8% · ahead of 21%

Step 5 Preview: Not scored

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

GLM-5.3-Flash:#6of 58

$0.15 · cheaper than 89%

Step 5 Preview:#25of 58

$1 · cheaper than 56%

Price per 1M output tokens

GLM-5.3-Flash:#3of 58

$0.50 · cheaper than 91%

Step 5 Preview:#24of 58

$2.70 · cheaper than 60%

Context window

GLM-5.3-Flash:#31of 68

1M tokens · longer than 22%

Step 5 Preview:#31of 68

1M tokens · longer than 22%

Scores fromArena · 2026-11-15Epoch AI · 2026-11-11

Quality against price

Arena Text · measured November 11, 2026

GLM-5.3-Flash scores 1,475 at $0.238; Step 5 Preview scores 1,449 at $1.43 (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 42 text models, GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview marked.1,2501,3001,3501,4001,4501,5001,550$0.30$1$3$10MOST ATTRACTIVE QUADRANTMedian price $2.58Median 1,473Blended price per 1M tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scaleArena Text (Elo)GLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
Quality against price: the data
Arena Text score against price for 42 text models, GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview marked.
ModelProviderBlended price per 1M tokensArena Text (Elo)
Gemini 4 CarbonGoogle$41,526
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$41,522
Muse WonderMeta$81,511
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic$81,507
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle$1.501,497
Muse Spark 1.3Meta$21,497
Gemini 4 HydrogenGoogle$31,490
Kimi K3Moonshot Kimi$61,487
GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$81,485
Kimi K3.1 ProMoonshot Kimi$41,485
Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba Qwen$31,484
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle$31,483
GLM-5.3Z.ai$2.151,482
GPT-5.5OpenAI$111,481
GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI$41,481
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi MiMo$0.541,480
GPT-5.4OpenAI$5.631,475
DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek$0.521,475
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai$0.241,475
GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$201,474
Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle$1.131,473
Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic$41,473
Grok 4.20xAI$1.561,472
GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI$4.501,468
Grok 4.5xAI$31,466
DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek$1.981,464
Grok 4.6xAI$31,457
GPT-6 SolOpenAI$41,457
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle$0.851,455
GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI$0.451,453
Step 5 PreviewStepFun$1.431,449
MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi MiMo$0.181,448
Grok 4.7xAI$31,443
Grok 4.3xAI$1.561,442
GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.201,441
Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic$0.201,421
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI$1.051,420
GPT-4.1OpenAI$3.501,415
Inkling 2 SmallThinking Machines Lab$0.471,412
Solar Pro 4Upstage$0.521,387
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, Step 5 Preview costs 6.2 times as much as GLM-5.3-Flash, at each provider's listed rates.

What GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview cost for the same work, at the rates each provider lists.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    Step 5 Preview costs 6.2× as much

    GLM-5.3-Flash
    $2.50
    Step 5 Preview
    $15.40

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

    Step 5 Preview costs 5.1× as much

    GLM-5.3-Flash
    $1.42
    Step 5 Preview
    $7.30
Workload or rateGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$2.50 (better)$15.40
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$1.42 (better)$7.30
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.03 (better)$0.10

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

See the cost audit

Verdict

When to choose each

GLM-5.3-Flash

Where it leads

  • Lower input and output prices, $0.15 and $0.50 vs $1 and $2.70 per 1M tokens
  • Higher Arena Text score, 1475 Elo vs 1449 Elo
  • Higher Arena WebDev score, 1609 Elo vs 1573 Elo
  • Longer responses, up to 128,000 vs 64,000 output tokens
  • Open weights you can run yourself
  • Cheaper cached input, $0.03 vs $0.10 per 1M tokens

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

Step 5 Preview

Where it leads

No measured lead over GLM-5.3-Flash in this data.

Best for

  • Long-context agentic coding and finance work

Watch out for

  • A preview: StepFun publishes no release date, parameter count or benchmark scores for it
  • Output tokens are billed including the reasoning trace, and output is capped at 64K tokens
Full Step 5 Preview profile

From benchmark to production

Building on GLM-5.3-Flash or Step 5 Preview?

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 $150

See the cost auditAI agent development

FAQ

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Step 5 Preview FAQ

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3-Flash or Step 5 Preview?

GLM-5.3-Flash is 85% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Step 5 Preview, $0.15 vs $1. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3-Flash costs $2.50 and Step 5 Preview $15.40 at standard rates.

Which is cheaper with prompt caching, GLM-5.3-Flash or Step 5 Preview?

GLM-5.3-Flash charges $0.03 per 1M cached input tokens, 80% below its standard input rate, and Step 5 Preview $0.10, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3-Flash costs $1.42 and Step 5 Preview $7.30.

Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, GLM-5.3-Flash or Step 5 Preview?

GLM-5.3-Flash leads on Arena Text, 1475 Elo to 1449 Elo; GLM-5.3-Flash leads on Arena WebDev, 1609 Elo to 1573 Elo. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.

Which has the larger context window, GLM-5.3-Flash or Step 5 Preview?

Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context. GLM-5.3-Flash returns up to 128,000 tokens per response, Step 5 Preview 64,000.

Can I run GLM-5.3-Flash or Step 5 Preview myself?

GLM-5.3-Flash is released as open weights you can run yourself; Step 5 Preview is available through its provider's API only.

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Further reading

More on GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview

Related comparisons

Production evaluation

Choosing between GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview?

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
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