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Van Data Team
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GLM-5.3-Flash benchmarks, pricing and specs

GLM-5.3-Flash is a Z.ai model released on August 26, 2026 that takes text, image and video input and produces text. It costs $0.15 per 1M input tokens and $0.50 per 1M output tokens and accepts up to 1,000,000 tokens of context. It scores 1475 Elo on Arena Text, #21 of 49 current models (Arena, measured October 8, 2026).

Per 1M input tokens
$0.15
Per 1M output tokens
$0.50
Context window
1M
Arena Text
1475 Elo · #21/49

Data verified October 13, 2026 · Dataset 2026-10-13

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Key facts

Provider
Z.ai
Model family
GLM-5
Release date
August 26, 2026
Status
Current
Access
API and open weights
API model id
glm-5.3-flash
Context window
1,000,000 tokens
Max output
128,000 tokens
Input
text, image, video
Output
text
Task families
text, multimodal
Declared capabilities
reasoning, coding, agentic coding, image understanding, video understanding, document understanding

GLM-5.3-Flash pricing

It is the #5 cheapest of 47 current text models priced per 1M input tokens.

UnitPrice (USD)TierAppliesSource
1M input tokens$0.15standardCurrent
1M output tokens$0.50standardCurrent
1M input tokens$0.03cachedCurrent

Independent benchmark results

Scores come from independent evaluators that ran the model themselves, pinned to a dated snapshot. Rank is among current models in the same snapshot. Z.ai's own launch figures are listed under strengths with the publisher named, because they are not measured the same way.

BenchmarkScoreRankMeasuredSource
Arena Text1475 Elo#21 of 49October 8, 2026Arena · 2026-10-12
GPQA Diamond90.2%#27 of 40October 12, 2026Epoch AI · 2026-10-12
FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2)55.8%#31 of 40October 12, 2026Epoch AI · 2026-10-12

Strengths, cautions and best uses

Strengths

  • The first natively multimodal GLM-5 model: it reads video, images, text and files and returns text
  • 320B total and 18B active parameters; Zhipu says hybrid sparse and linear attention cuts attention compute 3.01x and KV cache 4.44x against GLM-5.3
  • MIT-licensed weights, and an API list price of $0.15 input and $0.50 output per 1M tokens

Cautions

  • 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

Best for

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

Alternatives to GLM-5.3-Flash

The closest current textmodels by price. The cheapest model that scores as well or better is listed first; failing that, the cheapest one within 3% of the benchmark's scale.

Compare GLM-5.3-Flash with

Other GLM-5 models

GLM-5.3-Flash FAQ

How much does GLM-5.3-Flash cost?

GLM-5.3-Flash costs $0.15 per 1M input tokens and $0.50 per 1M output tokens at the standard tier. It is the #5 cheapest of 47 current text models priced per 1M input tokens. Source: Z.ai, verified October 13, 2026.

What is the context window of GLM-5.3-Flash?

GLM-5.3-Flash accepts up to 1,000,000 tokens of context. It can return up to 128,000 tokens in one response. That ranks #25 of 57 current text models by context length.

How does GLM-5.3-Flash score on independent benchmarks?

GLM-5.3-Flash scores 1475 Elo on Arena Text, #21 of 49 current models (Arena, measured October 8, 2026), 90.2% on GPQA Diamond, #27 of 40 current models (Epoch AI, measured October 12, 2026) and 55.8% on FrontierMath Tiers 1-3 (v2), #31 of 40 current models (Epoch AI, measured October 12, 2026). These are independent evaluations, not Z.ai's own launch figures.

Is GLM-5.3-Flash open source or API only?

GLM-5.3-Flash is available both through Z.ai's API and as open weights you can run yourself.

What are the best alternatives to GLM-5.3-Flash?

The closest current alternatives by price and measured performance are MiMo-V2.6-Flash (7% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.14 vs $0.15), GPT-5.6 Luna (33% more per 1M input tokens, $0.20 vs $0.15), Claude Haiku 5.5 (33% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.10 vs $0.15) and GPT-4.1 nano (33% cheaper per 1M input tokens, $0.10 vs $0.15).

Sources

Cite this page

Van Data Team. "GLM-5.3-Flash Benchmarks, Pricing and Specs." AI Model Benchmark Dataset 2026-10-13. https://vandatateam.com/ai-model-benchmarks/glm-5-3-flash

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Production evaluation

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