ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs GLM-5.3-Flash

GLM-5.3-Flash comes out ahead, 80 to 71 on our weighted score, though Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is 26% cheaper per token.

  1. Google

    Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

    Released Jun 17, 2025

    71/100
    • ECI133.9
    • Price$0.10 / $0.40
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
  2. Our pick

    Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-5.3-Flash

    Released Aug 26, 2026

    80/100
    • ECI151.9
    • Price$0.15 / $0.50
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove GLM-5.3-Flash

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GLM-5.3-Flash is our pick

GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (71). It leads on capability. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite wins on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGLM-5.3-FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9 · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9
  • Lowest priceGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite $0.175 · GLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 1,048,576 · GLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · GLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingGLM-5.3-FlashPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGLM-5.3-Flash
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5881
Price25%8679
Inputs & features15%10090
Context window10%6160
Overall100%71/10080/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite vs GLM-5.3-Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationGemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogleGLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)133.9151.9 (best)
ECI rank#118 of 148#42 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—90.2%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—55.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—93.9%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.15
Output$0.40 (best)$0.50
Cached input$0.01 (best)$0.03
Blended (3:1)$0.175 (best)$0.237
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Google APIOfficial Z.AI API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesYes
AudioYesNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesYeslow · high · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgemini-2.5-flash-liteglm-5.3-flash
API providers2065 (best)
ReleasedJun 17, 2025Aug 26, 2026
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025—
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
  • GLM-5.3-Flash$2.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or GLM-5.3-Flash?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (71). It leads on capability. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite wins on price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite or GLM-5.3-Flash?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Google API price). GLM-5.3-Flash costs $0.15 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.175 per million tokens for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite versus $0.237 for GLM-5.3-Flash (1.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GLM-5.3-Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9 (#42 of 148) and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 133.9 (#118 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (149.4–154.3 vs 129.8–136.3), so the gap is a real one.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite and GLM-5.3-Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GLM-5.3-Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for GLM-5.3-Flash. Maximum output per response: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536, GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

GLM-5.3-Flash publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the newest, released Aug 26, 2026. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite came out Jun 17, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Jan 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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