text model comparison
GLM-5.3 vs Grok 4.20
GLM-5.3 and Grok 4.20 are both current text models, from Z.ai and xAI. Grok 4.20 is 11% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GLM-5.3, $1.25 vs $1.40. On Arena Text, GLM-5.3 scores 1481 Elo and Grok 4.20 1472 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.
- Higher Arena Text
- GLM-5.31481 Elo against 1472 Elo
- Lower price per 1M input tokens
- Grok 4.20$1.25 against $1.40
- Newer release
- GLM-5.3Aug 2026 against Mar 2026
Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03
Side by side
GLM-5.3 and Grok 4.20, 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 | GLM-5.3 | Grok 4.20 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ||
| Price per 1M input tokens | $1.40 | $1.25 (better) |
| Price per 1M output tokens | $4.40 | $2.50 (better) |
| Independent benchmarks | ||
| Arena Text | 1481 Elo (#16 of 51) (better) | 1472 Elo (#25 of 51) |
| Arena WebDev | 1623 Elo (#21 of 45) (better) | 1375 Elo (#42 of 45) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) | 68.8% (#25 of 42) (better) | 44.9% (#37 of 42) |
| GPQA Diamond | 90.9% (#23 of 41) (better) | 89.3% (#32 of 41) |
| SimpleQA Verified | 41% (#29 of 38) (better) | 30.2% (#34 of 38) |
| Specs | ||
| Provider | Z.ai | xAI |
| Release date | August 18, 2026 | March 10, 2026 |
| Access | API and open weights | API only |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens | Not reported |
| Input | text | text, image |
| Output | text | text |
Charts
Against every current text model
Where GLM-5.3 and Grok 4.20 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 ranks #16 and Grok 4.20 #25 of 51 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text
GLM-5.3:#16of 51
1,481 Elo · ahead of 68%
Grok 4.20:#25of 51
1,472 Elo · ahead of 52%
Arena WebDev
GLM-5.3:#21of 45
1,623 Elo · ahead of 55%
Grok 4.20:#42of 45
1,375 Elo · ahead of 7%
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)
GLM-5.3:#25of 42
68.8% · ahead of 41%
Grok 4.20:#37of 42
44.9% · ahead of 12%
GPQA Diamond
GLM-5.3:#23of 41
90.9% · ahead of 45%
Grok 4.20:#32of 41
89.3% · ahead of 23%
SimpleQA Verified
GLM-5.3:#29of 38
41% · ahead of 22%
Grok 4.20:#34of 38
30.2% · ahead of 11%
Price and context
Price per 1M input tokens
GLM-5.3:#27of 52
$1.40 · cheaper than 49%
Grok 4.20:#23of 52
$1.25 · cheaper than 53%
Price per 1M output tokens
GLM-5.3:#26of 52
$4.40 · cheaper than 51%
Grok 4.20:#17of 52
$2.50 · cheaper than 65%
Context window
GLM-5.3:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Grok 4.20:#26of 64
1M tokens · longer than 22%
Quality against price
GLM-5.3 scores 1,481 at $2.15; Grok 4.20 scores 1,472 at $1.56 (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 1.3 times as much as Grok 4.20, at each provider's listed rates.
10M input and 2M output tokens
GLM-5.3 costs 1.3× as much
- GLM-5.3
- $22.80
- Grok 4.20
- $17.50
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached
GLM-5.3 costs 1.6× as much
- GLM-5.3
- $12.54
- Grok 4.20
- $8.05
| Workload or rate | GLM-5.3 | Grok 4.20 |
|---|---|---|
| Example workloads | ||
| 10M input and 2M output tokens | $22.80 | $17.50 (better) |
| The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached | $12.54 | $8.05 (better) |
| Other listed rates | ||
| 1M input tokens, cached | $0.26 | $0.20 (better) |
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
GLM-5.3
Where it leads
- Higher Arena Text score, 1481 Elo vs 1472 Elo
- Higher Arena WebDev score, 1623 Elo vs 1375 Elo
- Higher FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2) score, 68.8% vs 44.9%
- Higher GPQA Diamond score, 90.9% vs 89.3%
- Higher SimpleQA Verified score, 41% vs 30.2%
- 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
Grok 4.20
Where it leads
- Lower input and output prices, $1.25 and $2.50 vs $1.40 and $4.40 per 1M tokens
- Accepts image input
- Cheaper cached input, $0.20 vs $0.26 per 1M tokens
Best for
- Comparing single-agent and multi-agent reasoning on long-context workloads
Watch out for
- The published base rates double when requests reach the provider's 200,000-token long-context threshold
From benchmark to production
Building on GLM-5.3 or Grok 4.20?
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
GLM-5.3 vs Grok 4.20 FAQ
Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3 or Grok 4.20?
Grok 4.20 is 11% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GLM-5.3, $1.25 vs $1.40. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3 costs $22.80 and Grok 4.20 $17.50 at standard rates.
Which is cheaper with prompt caching, GLM-5.3 or Grok 4.20?
GLM-5.3 charges $0.26 per 1M cached input tokens, 81% below its standard input rate, and Grok 4.20 $0.20, 84% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3 costs $12.54 and Grok 4.20 $8.05.
Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, GLM-5.3 or Grok 4.20?
GLM-5.3 leads on Arena Text, 1481 Elo to 1472 Elo; GLM-5.3 leads on Arena WebDev, 1623 Elo to 1375 Elo; GLM-5.3 leads on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), 68.8% to 44.9%. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.
Which has the larger context window, GLM-5.3 or Grok 4.20?
Both accept 1,000,000 tokens of context.
How do GLM-5.3 and Grok 4.20 differ in features?
GLM-5.3 takes text input; Grok 4.20 takes text and image.
Can I run GLM-5.3 or Grok 4.20 myself?
GLM-5.3 is released as open weights you can run yourself; Grok 4.20 is available through its provider's API only.
Further reading
More on GLM-5.3 and Grok 4.20
Related comparisons
- GLM-5.3 vs Mistral Large 4
- Claude Haiku 5.5 vs Grok 4.20
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM-5.3
- Grok 4.20 vs Mistral Large 4
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs GLM-5.3
- Grok 4.20 vs Grok 4.7
- Gemini 3.6 Flash vs GLM-5.3
- DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs Grok 4.20
- GLM-5.3 vs Grok 4.3
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs Grok 4.20
- GLM-5.3 vs GLM-5.3-Flash
- DeepSeek-V4-Pro vs Grok 4.20
Production evaluation
Choosing between GLM-5.3 and Grok 4.20?
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