ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GLM-5.1 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6

Claude Sonnet 4.6 comes out ahead, 62 to 57 on our weighted score, though GLM-5.1 is 2.8× cheaper per token.

  1. Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-5.1

    Released Apr 7, 2026

    57/100
    • ECI149.9
    • Price$1.40 / $4.40
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove GLM-5.1
  2. Our pick

    Anthropic

    Claude Sonnet 4.6

    Released Feb 17, 2026

    62/100
    • ECI152.3
    • Price$3.00 / $15.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Claude Sonnet 4.6

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is our pick

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against GLM-5.1 (57). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. GLM-5.1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityClaude Sonnet 4.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 4.6 152.3 · GLM-5.1 149.9
  • Lowest priceGLM-5.1GLM-5.1 $2.15 · Claude Sonnet 4.6 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextClaude Sonnet 4.6Claude Sonnet 4.6 1,000,000 · GLM-5.1 200,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsClaude Sonnet 4.6GLM-5.1: Text · Claude Sonnet 4.6: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingGLM-5.1Publishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGLM-5.1Claude Sonnet 4.6
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7881
Price25%3413
Inputs & features15%4580
Context window10%3260
Overall100%57/10062/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GLM-5.1 vs Claude Sonnet 4.6 specifications side by side
SpecificationGLM-5.1Z.ai (Zhipu)Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)149.9152.3 (best)
ECI rank#51 of 148#40 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions89.9% (best)87.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics36.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics93.3% (best)85.8%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues74.2%75.2% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions34.0%35.5% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$1.40 (best)$3.00
Output$4.40 (best)$15.00
Cached input$0.26 (best)$0.30
Blended (3:1)$2.15 (best)$6.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Z.AI APIOfficial Anthropic API
Limits
Context window200,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens (best)64,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDglm-5.1claude-sonnet-4-6
API providers4041 (best)
ReleasedApr 7, 2026Feb 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Aug 31, 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.

  • GLM-5.1$22.80
  • Claude Sonnet 4.6$60.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GLM-5.1 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against GLM-5.1 (57). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. GLM-5.1 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.1 or Claude Sonnet 4.6?

GLM-5.1 is cheaper at $1.40 input / $4.40 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). Claude Sonnet 4.6 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (official Anthropic API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.15 per million tokens for GLM-5.1 versus $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 4.6 (2.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 4.6 152.3 (#40 of 148) and GLM-5.1 149.9 (#51 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (149.6–154.7 vs 148.0–151.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GLM-5.1 89.9%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 87.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GLM-5.1 93.3%, Claude Sonnet 4.6 85.8%; SWE-bench Verified — Claude Sonnet 4.6 75.2%, GLM-5.1 74.2%; SimpleQA Verified — Claude Sonnet 4.6 35.5%, GLM-5.1 34.0%.

Which is better for coding?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 resolves more real GitHub issues on SWE-bench Verified: Claude Sonnet 4.6 75.2% and GLM-5.1 74.2%. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Claude Sonnet 4.6 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 200,000 for GLM-5.1. Maximum output per response: GLM-5.1 up to 131,072, Claude Sonnet 4.6 up to 64,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GLM-5.1 accepts text; Claude Sonnet 4.6 accepts text, images and PDFs. Claude Sonnet 4.6 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

GLM-5.1 publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Claude Sonnet 4.6 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GLM-5.1 is the newest, released Apr 7, 2026. Claude Sonnet 4.6 came out Feb 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Claude Sonnet 4.6 Aug 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.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons