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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GLM-5V-Turbo vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

Too close to call on our weighted score (GLM-5V-Turbo 49, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-5V-Turbo

    Released Apr 1, 2026

    49/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.20 / $4.00
    • Context200K
  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking

    Released Sep 23, 2025

    48/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.40 / $4.00
    • Context131K
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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (GLM-5V-Turbo 49/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking on price and GLM-5V-Turbo for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking $1.30 · GLM-5V-Turbo $1.90 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGLM-5V-TurboGLM-5V-Turbo 200,000 · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGLM-5V-TurboGLM-5V-Turbo: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGLM-5V-TurboQwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking
Price50%3744
Inputs & features30%8070
Context window20%3224
Overall100%49/10048/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GLM-5V-Turbo vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking specifications side by side
SpecificationGLM-5V-TurboZ.ai (Zhipu)Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$1.20$0.40 (best)
Output$4.00$4.00
Cached input$0.24—
Blended (3:1)$1.90$1.30 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Z.AI APIMedian of 9 providers
Limits
Context window200,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDglm-5v-turbo—
API providers14 (best)9
ReleasedApr 1, 2026Sep 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Mar 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-5V-Turbo$20.00
  • Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking$12.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GLM-5V-Turbo or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (GLM-5V-Turbo 49/100, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking 48/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking on price and GLM-5V-Turbo for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5V-Turbo or Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking is cheaper at $0.40 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (median across 9 API providers). GLM-5V-Turbo costs $1.20 input / $4.00 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.30 per million tokens for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking versus $1.90 for GLM-5V-Turbo (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. GLM-5V-Turbo has not been scored yet and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GLM-5V-Turbo and Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

GLM-5V-Turbo has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking. Maximum output per response: GLM-5V-Turbo up to 131,072, Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GLM-5V-Turbo accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking accepts text and images. GLM-5V-Turbo handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GLM-5V-Turbo is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GLM-5V-Turbo is the newest, released Apr 1, 2026. Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking came out Sep 23, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking Mar 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.