GLM-5.3 — API Pricing & Benchmarks
GLM-5.3 is Zhipu AI (Z.ai)'s flagship reasoning model, released in 2026-08. The API costs $1.40 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens ($2.15 blended at a 3:1 ratio), with cached input at $0.26. It supports a 1M-token context window. On the independently measured Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index it scores 59.5, ranking #9 of 68 models tracked on this site, with a median output speed of 78 tokens/sec.
Explore provider routes and additional benchmark sources for GLM-5.3
| Provider | Zhipu AI (Z.ai) |
| Input price / 1M tokens | $1.40 |
| Output price / 1M tokens | $4.40 |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.26 |
| Blended price (3:1) | $2.15 |
| Context window | 1M |
| Max output tokens | 128K |
| Knowledge cutoff | — |
| License | open weights |
| Input modalities | T |
| Output speed (tok/s) | 78 |
| Released | 2026-08 |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 59.5 |
| LMArena Elo | 1474 |
| GPQA Diamond | 91.7% |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 42.3% |
Where GLM-5.3 fits
On a blended 3:1 basis GLM-5.3 costs $2.15 per 1M tokens, cheaper than 40% of the 80 priced models in this index. As Zhipu AI (Z.ai)'s flagship it is aimed at the hardest workloads — complex reasoning, agentic coding and multi-step tool use — where output quality dominates cost. The weights are open, so it can be self-hosted for data-residency or cost reasons instead of consumed via API. Cached input is priced at $0.26 (81% below standard input), which rewards prompt structures with long stable prefixes — see our caching guide.
Price history
| Period | Input $/1M | Output $/1M | Cached $/1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-08-14 → current | $1.40 | $4.40 | $0.26 |
No list-price changes recorded since tracking began. Full dataset: price-history.json (CC BY 4.0).
Alternatives at a similar price
- GLM-5.2 (Zhipu AI (Z.ai)) — $2.15/1M blended, AA Index 52.6
- Claude Haiku 4.5 (Anthropic) — $2.00/1M blended
- Muse Spark 1.3 (Meta) — $2.00/1M blended, AA Index 60.8
- Muse Spark 1.2 (Meta) — $2.00/1M blended, AA Index 56.8
Compare GLM-5.3
About Zhipu AI (Z.ai)
Zhipu AI (Z.ai) publishes the GLM series as open weights. GLM-5.3 benchmarks within a few points of the proprietary frontier at roughly a third of the price, and GLM-5.3-Flash keeps most of that score at small-model pricing.