Listed in Models

GLM-5.3

Z.ai's open flagship, #2 open model on Artificial Analysis. Pricing, the evidence and the alternatives, checked Oct 2026.

Open weights on Hugging Face, GLM-5.3 license (custom); GLM-5.3-Flash is MIT. 753B total / 40B active. Open weights, but needs a server (753B parameters).

BOX 41AI modelPaid

GLM-5.3

Open-weights model

Z.ai's open flagship, #2 open model on Artificial Analysis.

Seeks: Strong open-weights reasoning and agents; a smaller MIT Flash sibling exists.
Red flags: Big model (753B, server only); main weights use a custom GLM-5.3 license; API price third-party only.
Price: $1.4 in / $4.4 out per 1M tokensNo free tier

Opening line: “Break this feature into tickets with acceptance criteria.”

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Our take on GLM-5.3

GLM-5.3: Z.ai's open flagship, #2 open model on Artificial Analysis. Best for strong open-weights reasoning and agents; a smaller mit flash sibling exists. Watch out for: big model (753b, server only); main weights use a custom glm-5.3 license; api price third-party only. Price: $1.4 in / $4.4 out per 1M tokens (no free tier, checked Oct 2026).

Free tier	Free weights to self-host
Job in a stack	AI model, open-weights model
Cheapest paid plan	API: $1.4 in / $4.4 out per 1M tokens
Price checked	2026-10-15, unverified

What GLM-5.3 is good at

Chat4 of 5

Coding3 of 5

Writing3 of 5

Long documentsnot rated

Researchnot rated

Agents & tool use4 of 5

Image gennot supported

Chat: LMArena Text. #28 of ~410 on LMArena Text (glm-5.3-max), 2026-10-15
Coding: LMArena Coding. #38 of ~410 on LMArena Coding (glm-5.3-max), 2026-10-15
Writing: LMArena Creative Writing. #35 of ~410 on LMArena Creative Writing (glm-5.3-max), 2026-10-15
Agents & tool use: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index. 45 on the AA Intelligence Index v4.3.2 (GLM-5.3 (max)), a composite that includes agentic and tool-use evals, 2026-10-15

Whole scores from 1 to 5, mapped from the source shown. “Not rated” means we found no public benchmark for that job; “not supported” means the model can’t do it. How the bars are scored.

What GLM-5.3 costs

Plan	Price	Billing	Key limits
API, per 1M tokens	Per token	$1.4 input / $4.4 output per 1M tokens; price shown on LMArena, not an official Z.ai page	Blended about $2.15 per 1M tokens (3 parts input to 1 part output)

From arena.ai/leaderboard/text, checked 2026-10-15, unverified. Some prices could not be read from the official page, so confirm before buying. Prices are before tax and vendors change them often.

What outside sources say

Type	Source	Result	Date
benchmark	LMArena Text	#28 (glm-5.3-max)	2026-10-15
benchmark	LMArena Coding	#38 (glm-5.3-max)	2026-10-15
benchmark	LMArena Creative Writing	#35 (glm-5.3-max)	2026-10-15
benchmark	Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index	45 (GLM-5.3 (max))	2026-10-15
adoption	Hugging Face downloads	1,803,969 downloads last month; license glm-5.3 (custom)	2026-10-15

Our scores: quality 3.8/5, ease 3/5, value 4/5. Editorial start 4/3; benchmark adjustment -0.2, rating adjustment +0. How we rank.

If GLM-5.3 isn’t the one

01
Ollama
From $20/mo, free tier first.

Run open AI models on your own computer, free. Seeks private ChatGPT-style chat with open models, offline.
02
Nous Portal
From $20/mo, free tier first.

One Nous sign-in for 200+ models, hosted tools and agent hosting. Seeks hermes Agent users who want one bill instead of a key per lab.
03
OpenRouter
Paid price unverified, free tier first.

One API key for 500+ models at provider list prices. Seeks trying and switching between many models without separate accounts.
04
Gemini 4 Argon
Paid price unverified.

Google's flagship reasoning model, top of LMArena right now. Seeks hard reasoning, coding and long agent runs through the Gemini API.
05
Claude Opus 5.5
Paid price unverified.

Anthropic's daily-driver flagship, #1 on Artificial Analysis. Seeks agentic coding, careful writing and long multi-step work.
06
GPT-6.1 Sol
Paid price unverified.

OpenAI's mid-priced flagship with a 1M-token window. Seeks strong all-rounder for coding and agents at a lower price than GPT-6 Astra.

Questions people ask

Is GLM-5.3 free?

No free tier. Cheapest paid plan: $1.4 in / $4.4 out per 1M tokens (checked Oct 2026).

What is GLM-5.3 best for?

Strong open-weights reasoning and agents; a smaller MIT Flash sibling exists.

What are the downsides of GLM-5.3?

Big model (753B, server only); main weights use a custom GLM-5.3 license; API price third-party only.

What are the best GLM-5.3 alternatives?

Ollama, Nous Portal, OpenRouter, Gemini 4 Argon.

GLM-5.3

Our take on GLM-5.3

What GLM-5.3 is good at

What GLM-5.3 costs

What outside sources say

If GLM-5.3 isn’t the one

Ollama

Nous Portal

OpenRouter

Gemini 4 Argon

Claude Opus 5.5

GPT-6.1 Sol

Questions people ask