ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

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. 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

  2. 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

  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-LiteGLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingGLM-5.3-FlashPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGLM-5.3-FlashGemini 2.5 Flash-Lite
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8158
Price25%7986
Inputs & features15%90100
Context window10%6061
Overall100%80/10071/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite specifications side by side
SpecificationGLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu)Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)151.9 (best)133.9
ECI rank#42 of 148 (best)#118 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions90.2%—
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics55.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics93.9%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15$0.10 (best)
Output$0.50$0.40 (best)
Cached input$0.03$0.01 (best)
Blended (3:1)$0.237$0.175 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Z.AI APIOfficial Google API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output131,072 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesYes
AudioNoYes
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYeslow · high · maxYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDglm-5.3-flashgemini-2.5-flash-lite
API providers65 (best)20
ReleasedAug 26, 2026Jun 17, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Jan 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-5.3-Flash$2.50
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

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, GLM-5.3-Flash or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?

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 GLM-5.3-Flash and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite 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: GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite accepts text, images, PDFs, audio 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

Related comparisons