ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Mistral Small 3.2

GLM-5.3-Flash comes out ahead, 80 to 60 on our weighted score, though Mistral Small 3.2 is 37% 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. Mistral AI

    Mistral Small 3.2

    Released Jun 20, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI131.7
    • Price$0.10 / $0.30
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Small 3.2

  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 Mistral Small 3.2 (60). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Mistral Small 3.2 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 · Mistral Small 3.2 131.7
  • Lowest priceMistral Small 3.2Mistral Small 3.2 $0.15 · GLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 · Mistral Small 3.2 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Mistral Small 3.2: 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-FlashMistral Small 3.2
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8155
Price25%7989
Inputs & features15%9050
Context window10%6024
Overall100%80/10060/100
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 Mistral Small 3.2 specifications side by side
SpecificationGLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu)Mistral Small 3.2Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)151.9 (best)131.7
ECI rank#42 of 148 (best)#123 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions90.2% (best)49.1%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics55.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics93.9% (best)30.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15$0.10 (best)
Output$0.50$0.30 (best)
Cached input$0.03—
Blended (3:1)$0.237$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Z.AI APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYeslow · high · maxNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDglm-5.3-flashmistral-small-2506
API providers65 (best)6
ReleasedAug 26, 2026Jun 20, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Mar 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
  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GLM-5.3-Flash or Mistral Small 3.2?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Mistral Small 3.2 (60). It leads on capability, inputs & features and context window. Mistral Small 3.2 wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3-Flash or Mistral Small 3.2?

Mistral Small 3.2 is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.30 output per million tokens (official Mistral 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 $0.15 per million tokens for Mistral Small 3.2 versus $0.237 for GLM-5.3-Flash (1.6× 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 Mistral Small 3.2 131.7 (#123 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (149.4–154.3 vs 126.6–133.9), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GLM-5.3-Flash 90.2%, Mistral Small 3.2 49.1%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GLM-5.3-Flash 93.9%, Mistral Small 3.2 30.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GLM-5.3-Flash and Mistral Small 3.2 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 128,000 for Mistral Small 3.2. Maximum output per response: GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072, Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Mistral Small 3.2 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. Mistral Small 3.2 came out Jun 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Mistral Small 3.2 Mar 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