GLM-5.3-Flash vs Grok 4.7 vs Qwen3.8 Max
GLM-5.3-Flash comes out ahead, 79 to 71 and 64 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5.3-Flash
79/100- ECI151.9
- Price$0.15 / $0.50
- Context1M
xAIGrok 4.7
64/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context500K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen3.8 Max
71/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context1M
GLM-5.3-Flash is our pick
GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Qwen3.8 Max (71) and Grok 4.7 (64). It leads on price. Qwen3.8 Max wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond, FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Grok 4.7 has no Capabilities Index score yet.
- CapabilityQwen3.8 MaxShared benchmarks: Qwen3.8 Max 89.0% · Grok 4.7 81.3% · GLM-5.3-Flash 79.9%
- Lowest priceGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 · Grok 4.7 $3.00 · Qwen3.8 Max $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGLM-5.3-Flash and Qwen3.8 MaxGLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 · Qwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 · Grok 4.7 500,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGLM-5.3-Flash and Qwen3.8 MaxGLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Grok 4.7: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingGLM-5.3-FlashPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | GLM-5.3-Flash | Grok 4.7 | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityShared benchmarks | 50% | 80 | 81 | 89 |
| Price | 25% | 79 | 27 | 27 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 90 | 80 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 48 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 79/100 | 64/100 | 71/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu) | Grok 4.7xAI | Qwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 151.9 | — | 156.6 (best) |
| ECI rank | #42 of 148 | — | #20 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 90.2% | 92.7% (best) | 92.7% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 55.8% | 53.0% | 74.7% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 93.9% | 98.1% | 99.4% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 56.0% (best) | 45.8% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.15 (best) | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Output | $0.50 (best) | $6.00 | $6.00 |
| Cached input | $0.03 (best) | $0.50 | $0.25 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.237 (best) | $3.00 | $3.00 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 200K: $4.00 / $12.00 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Z.AI API | Official xAI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 500,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens | 500,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · high · max | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh | Yeslow · medium · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | glm-5.3-flash | grok-4.7 | qwen3.8-max |
| API providers | 65 (best) | 17 | 25 |
| Released | Aug 26, 2026 | Sep 21, 2026 | Aug 3, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | May 2026 | — |
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
- Grok 4.7$32.00
- Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GLM-5.3-Flash, Grok 4.7 or Qwen3.8 Max?
GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 79/100 against Qwen3.8 Max (71) and Grok 4.7 (64). It leads on price. Qwen3.8 Max wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond, FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025), because Grok 4.7 has no Capabilities Index score yet.
Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3-Flash, Grok 4.7 or Qwen3.8 Max?
GLM-5.3-Flash is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). Grok 4.7 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI API price); Qwen3.8 Max costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 $3.00 for Grok 4.7 (13× as much) and $3.00 for Qwen3.8 Max (13× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond, FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 and OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025): Qwen3.8 Max 89.0%, Grok 4.7 81.3% and GLM-5.3-Flash 79.9%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.7 92.7%, Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%, GLM-5.3-Flash 90.2%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%, GLM-5.3-Flash 55.8%, Grok 4.7 53.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, Grok 4.7 98.1%, GLM-5.3-Flash 93.9%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GLM-5.3-Flash, Grok 4.7 and Qwen3.8 Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.8 Max 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?
GLM-5.3-Flash and Qwen3.8 Max have the largest context windows (1,000,000 and 1,000,000 tokens), against 500,000 for Grok 4.7. Maximum output per response: GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072, Grok 4.7 up to 500,000, Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Grok 4.7 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video. GLM-5.3-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; Grok 4.7 and Qwen3.8 Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Grok 4.7 is the newest, released Sep 21, 2026. GLM-5.3-Flash came out Aug 26, 2026; Qwen3.8 Max came out Aug 3, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Grok 4.7 May 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.
