Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview vs GLM-5-Turbo vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Too close to call on our weighted score (Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview 50, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48, GLM-5-Turbo 38). The right pick depends on what you value most.
GoogleGemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview
50/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $5.00
- Context131K
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5-Turbo
38/100- ECI—
- Price$1.20 / $4.00
- Context200K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
48/100- ECI—
- Price$0.40 / $4.00
- Context131K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview 50/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100, GLM-5-Turbo 38/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking on price and GLM-5-Turbo for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.30 · GLM-5-Turbo $1.90 · Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGLM-5-TurboGLM-5-Turbo 200,000 · Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview 131,072 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGemini Robotics-ER 1.6 PreviewGemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview: Text, Images, Audio, Video · GLM-5-Turbo: Text · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview | GLM-5-Turbo | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 36 | 37 | 44 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 90 | 45 | 70 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 32 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 50/100 | 38/100 | 48/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 PreviewGoogle | GLM-5-TurboZ.ai (Zhipu) | Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.00 | $1.20 | $0.40 (best) |
| Output | $5.00 | $4.00 (best) | $4.00 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.24 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.00 | $1.90 | $1.30 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official Z.AI API | Median of 9 providers |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 200,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | Yes | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | — | glm-5-turbo | — |
| API providers | 1 | 17 (best) | 9 |
| Released | Apr 14, 2026 | Mar 16, 2026 | Sep 23, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | — | Mar 31, 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview$20.00
- GLM-5-Turbo$20.00
- Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview, GLM-5-Turbo or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview 50/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100, GLM-5-Turbo 38/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking on price and GLM-5-Turbo for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview, GLM-5-Turbo or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is cheaper at $0.40 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). GLM-5-Turbo costs $1.20 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price); Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview costs $1.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.30 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking versus $1.90 for GLM-5-Turbo (1.5× as much) and $2.00 for Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview (1.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview has not been scored yet, GLM-5-Turbo has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview, GLM-5-Turbo and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
GLM-5-Turbo has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview and 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking. Maximum output per response: Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview up to 65,536, GLM-5-Turbo up to 131,072, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview accepts text, images, audio and video; GLM-5-Turbo accepts text; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images. Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview and GLM-5-Turbo is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview is the newest, released Apr 14, 2026. GLM-5-Turbo came out Mar 16, 2026; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Gemini Robotics-ER 1.6 Preview Jan 2025, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 31, 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.
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