ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Gemma 4 31B IT

GLM-5.3-Flash comes out ahead, 80 to 69 on our weighted score, though Gemma 4 31B IT is 14% 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

    Gemma 4 31B IT

    Released Apr 2, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI142.8
    • Price$0.14 / $0.40
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Gemma 4 31B IT

  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 Gemma 4 31B IT (69). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 4 31B IT wins on price. 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 · Gemma 4 31B IT 142.8
  • Lowest priceGemma 4 31B ITGemma 4 31B IT $0.205 · GLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 · Gemma 4 31B IT 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Gemma 4 31B IT: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGLM-5.3-FlashGemma 4 31B IT
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8169
Price25%7983
Inputs & features15%9070
Context window10%6037
Overall100%80/10069/100
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 Gemma 4 31B IT specifications side by side
SpecificationGLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu)Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)151.9 (best)142.8
ECI rank#42 of 148 (best)#86 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions90.2% (best)75.8%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics55.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics93.9% (best)73.3%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—10.4%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15$0.14 (best)
Output$0.50$0.40 (best)
Cached input$0.03—
Blended (3:1)$0.237$0.205 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Z.AI APIMedian of 30 providers
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYeslow · high · maxYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDglm-5.3-flashgemma-4-31b-it
API providers65 (best)38
ReleasedAug 26, 2026Apr 2, 2026
Knowledge cutoff——
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
  • Gemma 4 31B IT$2.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GLM-5.3-Flash or Gemma 4 31B IT?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Gemma 4 31B IT (69). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Gemma 4 31B IT wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3-Flash or Gemma 4 31B IT?

Gemma 4 31B IT is cheaper at $0.14 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (median across 30 API providers). 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 $0.205 per million tokens for Gemma 4 31B IT versus $0.237 for GLM-5.3-Flash (1.2× 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 Gemma 4 31B IT 142.8 (#86 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (149.4–154.3 vs 140.3–144.9), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GLM-5.3-Flash 90.2%, Gemma 4 31B IT 75.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GLM-5.3-Flash 93.9%, Gemma 4 31B IT 73.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GLM-5.3-Flash and Gemma 4 31B IT 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?

GLM-5.3-Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Gemma 4 31B IT. Maximum output per response: GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072, Gemma 4 31B IT up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Gemma 4 31B IT accepts text and images. GLM-5.3-Flash handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights, so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the newest, released Aug 26, 2026. Gemma 4 31B IT came out Apr 2, 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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