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Head-to-head comparison

GLM 5.3 Flash vs GLM 5 Turbo

GLM 5.3 Flash (Z.ai) and GLM 5 Turbo (Z.ai) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 9 September 2026

As of 9 September 2026, GLM 5.3 Flash holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#11 vs #73); GLM 5.3 Flash is 16× cheaper per output token ($0.25/1M vs $4.00/1M); GLM 5.3 Flash offers the longer context window (1.3M vs 203K tokens); and GLM 5.3 Flash ships open weights.

Which should you choose?

Choose GLM 5.3 Flash if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #11 against #73 (78.7 vs 50.4 points).
  • API cost matters — $0.25/1M output tokens against $4.00/1M, about 16× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.075/1M against $1.20/1M.
  • you need the longer context window — 1.3M tokens against 203K.
  • you want to self-host: GLM 5.3 Flash ships open weights while GLM 5 Turbo is api only.
  • you want provider choice — 26 listed API providers against 1.
  • AA Humanity's Last Exam is your yardstick — 39.9% against 27.8%.
  • you want the more recently listed model — GLM 5.3 Flash was listed 26 August 2026, GLM 5 Turbo 15 March 2026.

Choose GLM 5 Turbo if…

  • ModelCap publishes no field on which GLM 5 Turbo leads GLM 5.3 Flash for this pair.

GLM 5.3 Flash vs GLM 5 Turbo: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of GLM 5.3 Flash and GLM 5 Turbo
FieldGLM 5.3 FlashZ.aiGLM 5 TurboZ.ai
ModelCap Index position#11#73
Index score78.750.4
EvidenceMeasuredMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.075$1.20
Output price / 1M tokens$0.25$4.00
Context window1.3M tokens203K tokens
Max output tokens131K131K
API providers listed261
Weight accessOpen weightsAPI only
Input modalitiesText, Image, VideoText
First listed26 August 202615 March 2026
PublisherZ.aiZ.ai

Evidence: 4 public benchmark observations across 4 boards · publisher-corpus-prior over 182 held-out anchors (64%); 1 specialist-board observation at 1.3% support (36%); shrunk 23.7 up toward the measured corpus. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: GLM 5.3 Flash vs GLM 5 Turbo

Public benchmark boards where GLM 5.3 Flash or GLM 5 Turbo has a published result
BoardGLM 5.3 FlashGLM 5 TurboLeads
Arena codingArena (LMArena)15341517–1551—Only one result
LMArena AgentLMArena2.0%1.1%–2.9%—Only one result
AA Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis41.9intelligence-index:v4.3:reasoning-unspecified—Only one result
AA Terminal-Bench 2.1Artificial Analysis84.3%terminal-bench:2.1:terminus-2:e2b:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="GLM-5.3-Flash":reasoning=true—Only one result
AA τ²-Bench TelecomArtificial Analysis—98.5%tau2:telecom:dual-control:pass-at-1:3-repeats:source-model="GLM-5-Turbo":reasoning=trueOnly one result
AA Humanity's Last ExamArtificial Analysis39.9%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="GLM-5.3-Flash":reasoning=true27.8%hle:may-2025:text-only-2158:no-tools:pass-at-1:source-model="GLM-5-Turbo":reasoning=trueGLM 5.3 Flash
WildClawBench OpenClawWildClawBench—33.9Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

GLM 5.3 Flash vs GLM 5 Turbo: common questions

Is GLM 5.3 Flash better than GLM 5 Turbo?

GLM 5.3 Flash ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 9 September 2026: #11 against #73. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it. Their published uncertainty intervals overlap, so the rank difference alone does not establish a reliable capability advantage for your workload.

Is GLM 5.3 Flash cheaper than GLM 5 Turbo?

GLM 5.3 Flash is cheaper on output tokens: $0.25/1M against $4.00/1M. Input tokens are $0.075/1M for GLM 5.3 Flash and $1.20/1M for GLM 5 Turbo. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens. For 1,000 requests with 2,000 input and 500 output tokens each (2M input + 0.5M output), the listed-rate estimate is $0.28 for GLM 5.3 Flash versus $4.40 for GLM 5 Turbo. GLM 5.3 Flash costs 93.7% less in this scenario. This excludes caching, batch discounts, prompt-length tiers, tool charges and retries; verify the selected endpoint before budgeting.

Which has the bigger context window, GLM 5.3 Flash or GLM 5 Turbo?

GLM 5.3 Flash has the larger context window: 1.3M tokens against 203K.

Which is better for coding, GLM 5.3 Flash or GLM 5 Turbo?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are GLM 5.3 Flash and GLM 5 Turbo open-weight models?

GLM 5.3 Flash: Open weights. GLM 5 Turbo: API only. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run GLM 5.3 Flash and GLM 5 Turbo?

ModelCap currently lists 26 API providers for GLM 5.3 Flash and 1 for GLM 5 Turbo, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this GLM 5.3 Flash vs GLM 5 Turbo comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 9 September 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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