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Van Data Team

text model comparison

GLM-5.3 vs LongCat-2.5

GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5 are both current text models, from Z.ai and Meituan. LongCat-2.5 is 79% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GLM-5.3, $0.30 vs $1.40. Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000).

Lower price per 1M input tokens
LongCat-2.5$0.30 against $1.40
Longer context window
LongCat-2.51.05M tokens against 1M tokens
Newer release
LongCat-2.5Nov 2026 against Aug 2026

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

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Side by side

GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5, 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-5.3LongCat-2.5
Price
Price per 1M input tokens$1.40$0.30 (better)
Price per 1M output tokens$4.40$1.20 (better)
Independent benchmarks
Arena Text1481 Elo (#16 of 51)Not measured
Arena WebDev1623 Elo (#21 of 45)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.aiMeituan
Release dateAugust 18, 2026November 2, 2026
AccessAPI and open weightsAPI only
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens262,144 tokens
Inputtexttext, image, video
Outputtexttext

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

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

Charts

Against every current text model

Where GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5 land among the current models of their task, on every independent benchmark, on price and on context.

Where each stands

Only GLM-5.3 has a current Arena Text score: #16 of 51. Each bar is the share of current models it beats.

GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5 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%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

Arena WebDev

GLM-5.3:#21of 45

1,623 Elo · ahead of 55%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)

GLM-5.3:#25of 42

68.8% · ahead of 41%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

GPQA Diamond

GLM-5.3:#23of 41

90.9% · ahead of 45%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

SimpleQA Verified

GLM-5.3:#29of 38

41% · ahead of 22%

LongCat-2.5: Not scored

Price and context

Price per 1M input tokens

GLM-5.3:#27of 52

$1.40 · cheaper than 49%

LongCat-2.5:#11of 52

$0.30 · cheaper than 75%

Price per 1M output tokens

GLM-5.3:#26of 52

$4.40 · cheaper than 51%

LongCat-2.5:#10of 52

$1.20 · cheaper than 76%

Context window

GLM-5.3:#26of 64

1M tokens · longer than 22%

LongCat-2.5:#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 LongCat-2.5 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 LongCat-2.5 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, GLM-5.3 costs 4.2 times as much as LongCat-2.5, at each provider's listed rates.

What GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5 cost for the same work, at the rates each provider lists.

  • 10M input and 2M output tokens

    GLM-5.3 costs 4.2× as much

    GLM-5.3
    $22.80
    LongCat-2.5
    $5.40

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

    GLM-5.3 costs 4.6× as much

    GLM-5.3
    $12.54
    LongCat-2.5
    $2.75
Workload or rateGLM-5.3LongCat-2.5
Example workloads
10M input and 2M output tokens$22.80$5.40 (better)
The same, with 9M of the input tokens cached$12.54$2.75 (better)
Other listed rates
1M input tokens, cached$0.26$0.006 (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

Book the cost audit

Verdict

When to choose each

GLM-5.3

Where it leads

  • 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

LongCat-2.5

Where it leads

  • Lower input and output prices, $0.30 and $1.20 vs $1.40 and $4.40 per 1M tokens
  • Longer responses, up to 262,144 vs 128,000 output tokens
  • Accepts image and video input
  • Cheaper cached input, $0.006 vs $0.26 per 1M tokens

Best for

  • Coding agents working through whole projects in Claude Code, Codex or similar harnesses
  • Visual coding and design work that mixes screenshots or screen recordings with code

Watch out for

  • The recorded rates are a limited-time discount: Meituan publishes no list price and no end date
  • API only: no weights had been published when this record was made
  • Released on 2 November 2026, so no independent benchmark score is recorded here yet
Full LongCat-2.5 profile

From benchmark to production

Building on GLM-5.3 or LongCat-2.5?

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

Book the cost auditAI agent development

FAQ

GLM-5.3 vs LongCat-2.5 FAQ

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3 or LongCat-2.5?

LongCat-2.5 is 79% cheaper per 1M input tokens than GLM-5.3, $0.30 vs $1.40. For 10M input and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3 costs $22.80 and LongCat-2.5 $5.40 at standard rates.

Which is cheaper with prompt caching, GLM-5.3 or LongCat-2.5?

GLM-5.3 charges $0.26 per 1M cached input tokens, 81% below its standard input rate, and LongCat-2.5 $0.006, 98% below. With 9M of 10M input tokens cached and 2M output tokens, GLM-5.3 costs $12.54 and LongCat-2.5 $2.75.

Which has the larger context window, GLM-5.3 or LongCat-2.5?

Both accept about 1.05M tokens of context (1,048,576 and 1,000,000). LongCat-2.5 returns up to 262,144 tokens per response, GLM-5.3 128,000.

How do GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5 differ in features?

GLM-5.3 takes text input; LongCat-2.5 takes text, image and video.

Can I run GLM-5.3 or LongCat-2.5 myself?

GLM-5.3 is released as open weights you can run yourself; LongCat-2.5 is available through its provider's API only.

Further reading

More on GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5

Articles on GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5

Related comparisons

Production evaluation

Choosing between GLM-5.3 and LongCat-2.5?

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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