Gemini 3.6 Flash vs GLM-5.3-Flash vs Muse Spark 1.1
GLM-5.3-Flash comes out ahead, 80 to 73 and 70 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
GoogleGemini 3.6 Flash
73/100- ECI154.3
- Price$0.75 / $3.75
- Context1.05M
- Our pick
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5.3-Flash
80/100- ECI151.9
- Price$0.15 / $0.50
- Context1M
MetaMuse Spark 1.1
70/100- ECI154.3
- Price$1.25 / $4.25
- Context1.05M
GLM-5.3-Flash is our pick
GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Gemini 3.6 Flash (73) and Muse Spark 1.1 (70). It leads on price. Gemini 3.6 Flash wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3.6 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 · Muse Spark 1.1 154.3 · GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9
- Lowest priceGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 · Gemini 3.6 Flash $1.50 · Muse Spark 1.1 $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1Gemini 3.6 Flash 1,048,576 · Muse Spark 1.1 1,048,576 · GLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini 3.6 FlashGemini 3.6 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · GLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Muse Spark 1.1: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingGLM-5.3-FlashPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini 3.6 Flash | GLM-5.3-Flash | Muse Spark 1.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 84 | 81 | 84 |
| Price | 25% | 42 | 79 | 36 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 90 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 60 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 80/100 | 70/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle | GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu) | Muse Spark 1.1Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 154.3 (best) | 151.9 | 154.3 |
| ECI rank | #34 of 148 (best) | #42 of 148 | #35 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 94.1% (best) | 90.2% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 59.0% (best) | 55.8% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 94.2% (best) | 93.9% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 66.2% (best) | — | 57.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.75 | $0.15 (best) | $1.25 |
| Output | $3.75 | $0.50 (best) | $4.25 |
| Cached input | $0.075 | $0.03 (best) | $0.15 |
| Blended (3:1) | $1.50 | $0.237 (best) | $2.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Google API | Official Z.AI API | Official Meta API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yeslow · high · max | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gemini-3.6-flash | glm-5.3-flash | muse-spark-1.1 |
| API providers | 25 | 65 (best) | 13 |
| Released | Jul 21, 2026 | Aug 26, 2026 | Jul 9, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Mar 2026 | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemini 3.6 Flash$15.00
- GLM-5.3-Flash$2.50
- Muse Spark 1.1$21.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini 3.6 Flash, GLM-5.3-Flash or Muse Spark 1.1?
GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Gemini 3.6 Flash (73) and Muse Spark 1.1 (70). It leads on price. Gemini 3.6 Flash wins on inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash, GLM-5.3-Flash or Muse Spark 1.1?
GLM-5.3-Flash is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). Gemini 3.6 Flash costs $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Muse Spark 1.1 costs $1.25 input / $4.25 output per million tokens (official Meta API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.237 per million tokens for GLM-5.3-Flash versus $1.50 for Gemini 3.6 Flash (6.3× as much) and $2.00 for Muse Spark 1.1 (8.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3.6 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.6 Flash 154.3 (#34 of 148), Muse Spark 1.1 154.3 (#35 of 148) and GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9 (#42 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (152.6–156.3 vs 152.2–157.1), so treat the gap as small.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini 3.6 Flash, GLM-5.3-Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.6 Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 have the largest context windows (1,048,576 and 1,048,576 tokens), against 1,000,000 for GLM-5.3-Flash. Maximum output per response: Gemini 3.6 Flash up to 65,536, GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072, Muse Spark 1.1 up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Muse Spark 1.1 accepts text, images, PDFs and video. Gemini 3.6 Flash 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 3.6 Flash and Muse Spark 1.1 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
GLM-5.3-Flash is the newest, released Aug 26, 2026. Gemini 3.6 Flash came out Jul 21, 2026; Muse Spark 1.1 came out Jul 9, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini 3.6 Flash Mar 2026.
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.
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