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Van Data Team

text model comparison

GLM-5.3 vs Kimi K3.1 Pro

GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro are both current text models, from Z.ai and Moonshot Kimi. GLM-5.3 is 30% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Kimi K3.1 Pro, $1.40 vs $2. On Arena WebDev, GLM-5.3 scores 1623 Elo and Kimi K3.1 Pro 1695 Elo (Arena, measured October 28, 2026). Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).

Higher Arena WebDev
Kimi K3.1 Pro1695 Elo against 1623 Elo
Lower price per 1M input tokens
GLM-5.3$1.40 against $2
Longer context window
Kimi K3.1 Pro1.05M tokens against 1M tokens
Newer release
Kimi K3.1 ProOct 2026 against Aug 2026

Data verified November 3, 2026 · Dataset 2026-11-03

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Side by side

GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro, 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-5.3Kimi K3.1 Pro
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$1.40 (better)$2
Price per 1M output tokens$4.40 (better)$10
Independent benchmarks
Arena WebDev1623 Elo (#21 of 45)1695 Elo (#6 of 45) (better)
Arena Text1481 Elo (#16 of 51)Not measured
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)68.8% (#25 of 42)Not measured
GPQA Diamond90.9% (#23 of 41)Not measured
SimpleQA Verified41% (#29 of 38)Not measured
Specs
ProviderZ.aiMoonshot Kimi
Release dateAugust 18, 2026October 23, 2026
AccessAPI and open weightsAPI only
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output128,000 tokensNot reported
Inputtexttext, image, video
Outputtexttext

Scores:Arena · 2026-11-03Epoch AI · 2026-11-03

Open both in the interactive comparison

Charts

Against every current text model

Where GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.

Where each stands

On Arena WebDev, GLM-5.3 ranks #21 and Kimi K3.1 Pro #6 of 45 current models. Each bar is the share of current models it beats: on score, price and context.

GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro among the current text models, one row per benchmark, price and context window.

Independent benchmarks

Arena Text

GLM-5.3:#16of 51

1,481 Elo · ahead of 68%

Kimi K3.1 Pro: Not scored

Arena WebDev

GLM-5.3:#21of 45

1,623 Elo · ahead of 55%

Kimi K3.1 Pro:#6of 45

1,695 Elo · ahead of 89%

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

GLM-5.3:#25of 42

68.8% · ahead of 41%

Kimi K3.1 Pro: Not scored

GPQA Diamond

GLM-5.3:#23of 41

90.9% · ahead of 45%

Kimi K3.1 Pro: Not scored

SimpleQA Verified

GLM-5.3:#29of 38

41% · ahead of 22%

Kimi K3.1 Pro: Not scored

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

GLM-5.3:#27of 52

$1.40 · cheaper than 49%

Kimi K3.1 Pro:#29of 52

$2 · cheaper than 24%

Price per 1M output tokens

GLM-5.3:#26of 52

$4.40 · cheaper than 51%

Kimi K3.1 Pro:#34of 52

$10 · cheaper than 25%

Context window

GLM-5.3:#26of 64

1M tokens · longer than 22%

Kimi K3.1 Pro:#11of 64

1.05M tokens · longer than 67%

Scores fromArena · 2026-11-03Epoch AI · 2026-11-03

Quality against price

Arena Text · measured October 28, 2026

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 priceArena Text score against price for 43 text models, GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro 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
Quality against price: the data
Arena Text score against price for 43 text models, GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro marked.
ModelProviderBlended price per 1M tokensArena Text (Elo)
Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle$41,520
Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic$81,509
Muse WonderMeta$81,507
Claude Fable 5Anthropic$201,504
Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic$201,504
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle$1.501,496
Muse Spark 1.3Meta$21,495
Claude Opus 5Anthropic$101,492
Kimi K3Moonshot Kimi$61,488
GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$81,485
Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle$31,483
GPT-5.5OpenAI$111,482
Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic$101,482
Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba Qwen$31,482
GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI$41,481
GLM-5.3Z.ai$2.151,481
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi MiMo$0.541,480
Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic$41,477
GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai$0.241,477
GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$201,476
DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek$0.521,476
GPT-5.4OpenAI$5.631,475
Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle$1.131,473
Grok 4.20xAI$1.561,472
GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI$4.501,467
Grok 4.5xAI$31,465
DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek$1.981,465
Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic$41,462
GPT-6 SolOpenAI$41,458
Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle$0.851,456
Grok 4.6xAI$31,455
GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI$0.451,453
MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi MiMo$0.181,448
Step 5 PreviewStepFun$1.431,448
Grok 4.3xAI$1.561,442
GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.201,441
Grok 4.7xAI$31,441
Mistral Large 4Mistral AI$1.051,432
Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic$0.201,425
GPT-4.1OpenAI$3.501,415
Solar Pro 4Upstage$0.521,388
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, Kimi K3.1 Pro costs 1.8 times as much as GLM-5.3, at each provider's listed rates.

What GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro cost for the same work, at the rates each provider lists.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    Kimi K3.1 Pro costs 1.8× as much

    GLM-5.3
    $22.80
    Kimi K3.1 Pro
    $40

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

    Kimi K3.1 Pro costs 1.9× as much

    GLM-5.3
    $12.54
    Kimi K3.1 Pro
    $23.80
Workload or rateGLM-5.3Kimi K3.1 Pro
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$22.80 (better)$40
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$12.54 (better)$23.80
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.26$0.20 (better)
1M input tokens, 5-minute cache writeNot listed$2
1M input tokens, 1-hour cache writeNot listed$4
1M input tokens, Highspeed endpointNot listed$4
1M output tokens, Highspeed endpointNot listed$20

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

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Verdict

When to choose each

GLM-5.3

Where it leads

  • Lower input and output prices, $1.40 and $4.40 vs $2 and $10 per 1M 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
Full GLM-5.3 profile

Kimi K3.1 Pro

Where it leads

  • Higher Arena WebDev score, 1695 Elo vs 1623 Elo
  • Accepts image and video input
  • Cheaper cached input, $0.20 vs $0.26 per 1M tokens

Best for

  • Long-horizon coding and agent work at mid-tier prices
  • Long documents, images and video in one 1M-token context

Watch out for

  • Thinking is always on: reasoning effort runs low, high or max, and max is the default
  • The Highspeed endpoint, two to three times faster by Moonshot's account, costs twice as much at $4 input and $20 output per 1M tokens
  • Weights are promised by 4 November 2026 and were not out on 3 November; Epoch AI and Arena Text have not scored it yet
Full Kimi K3.1 Pro profile

From benchmark to production

Building on GLM-5.3 or Kimi K3.1 Pro?

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

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FAQ

GLM-5.3 vs Kimi K3.1 Pro FAQ

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3 or Kimi K3.1 Pro?

GLM-5.3 is 30% cheaper per 1M input tokens than Kimi K3.1 Pro, $1.40 vs $2. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3 costs $22.80 and Kimi K3.1 Pro $40 at standard rates.

Which is cheaper with prompt caching, GLM-5.3 or Kimi K3.1 Pro?

GLM-5.3 charges $0.26 per 1M cached input tokens, 81% below its standard input rate, and Kimi K3.1 Pro $0.20, 90% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3 costs $12.54 and Kimi K3.1 Pro $23.80.

Which scores higher on independent benchmarks, GLM-5.3 or Kimi K3.1 Pro?

Kimi K3.1 Pro leads on Arena WebDev, 1695 Elo to 1623 Elo. Scores are independent evaluations, not either vendor's launch figures.

Which has the larger context window, GLM-5.3 or Kimi K3.1 Pro?

Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).

How do GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro differ in features?

GLM-5.3 takes text input; Kimi K3.1 Pro takes text, image and video.

Can I run GLM-5.3 or Kimi K3.1 Pro myself?

GLM-5.3 is released as open weights you can run yourself; Kimi K3.1 Pro is available through its provider's API only.

Further reading

More on GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro

Articles on GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro

Related comparisons

Production evaluation

Choosing between GLM-5.3 and Kimi K3.1 Pro?

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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