Grok 4.6 vs GLM-5.3-Flash
GLM-5.3-Flash comes out ahead, 80 to 65 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
xAIGrok 4.6
65/100- ECI156.6
- Price$2.00 / $6.00
- Context500K
- Our pick
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5.3-Flash
80/100- ECI151.9
- Price$0.15 / $0.50
- Context1M
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GLM-5.3-Flash is our pick
GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Grok 4.6 (65). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. Grok 4.6 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGrok 4.6Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 · GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9
- Lowest priceGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 · Grok 4.6 $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 · Grok 4.6 500,000 tokens
- Widest inputsGLM-5.3-FlashGrok 4.6: Text, Images · GLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
- Self-hostingGLM-5.3-FlashPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Grok 4.6 | GLM-5.3-Flash |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 86 | 81 |
| Price | 25% | 27 | 79 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 90 |
| Context window | 10% | 48 | 60 |
| Overall | 100% | 65/100 | 80/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Grok 4.6xAI | GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu) |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 156.6 (best) | 151.9 |
| ECI rank | #19 of 148 (best) | #42 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 94.0% (best) | 90.2% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 66.0% (best) | 55.8% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 99.2% (best) | 93.9% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 49.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.00 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | $6.00 | $0.50 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.50 | $0.03 (best) |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.00 | $0.237 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Over 200K: $4.00 / $12.00 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official xAI API | Official Z.AI API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 500,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 500,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh | Yeslow · high · max |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |
| API model ID | grok-4.6 | glm-5.3-flash |
| API providers | 29 | 65 (best) |
| Released | Aug 12, 2026 | Aug 26, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Feb 1, 2026 | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Grok 4.6$32.00
- GLM-5.3-Flash$2.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Grok 4.6 or GLM-5.3-Flash?
GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Grok 4.6 (65). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. Grok 4.6 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.6 or GLM-5.3-Flash?
GLM-5.3-Flash is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). Grok 4.6 costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official xAI 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 4.6 (13× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Grok 4.6 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Grok 4.6 156.6 (#19 of 148) and GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9 (#42 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (154.7–158.9 vs 149.4–154.3), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.6 94.0%, GLM-5.3-Flash 90.2%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Grok 4.6 66.0%, GLM-5.3-Flash 55.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Grok 4.6 99.2%, GLM-5.3-Flash 93.9%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Grok 4.6 and GLM-5.3-Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Grok 4.6 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 500,000 for Grok 4.6. Maximum output per response: Grok 4.6 up to 500,000, GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Grok 4.6 accepts text and images; GLM-5.3-Flash 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 4.6 is proprietary.
Which is newer?
GLM-5.3-Flash is the newest, released Aug 26, 2026. Grok 4.6 came out Aug 12, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Grok 4.6 Feb 1, 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.
