ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Inkling Small vs GLM-5.3

Inkling Small comes out ahead, 70 to 64 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Thinking Machines

    Inkling Small

    Released Jul 30, 2026

    70/100
    • ECI150.2
    • Price$0.50 / $1.20
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Inkling Small

  2. Z.ai (Zhipu)

    GLM-5.3

    Released Aug 14, 2026

    64/100
    • ECI155.8
    • Price$1.40 / $4.40
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove GLM-5.3

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Inkling Small is our pick

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against GLM-5.3 (64). It leads on price and inputs & features. GLM-5.3 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGLM-5.3Capabilities Index (ECI): GLM-5.3 155.8 · Inkling Small 150.2
  • Lowest priceInkling SmallInkling Small $0.675 · GLM-5.3 $2.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextInkling SmallInkling Small 1,048,576 · GLM-5.3 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsInkling SmallInkling Small: Text, Images, Audio · GLM-5.3: Text
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightInkling SmallGLM-5.3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7885
Price25%5834
Inputs & features15%7045
Context window10%6160
Overall100%70/10064/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Inkling Small vs GLM-5.3 specifications side by side
SpecificationInkling SmallThinking MachinesGLM-5.3Z.ai (Zhipu)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)150.2155.8 (best)
ECI rank#47 of 148#24 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.5%90.9% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics46.3%68.8% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics90.0%91.1% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions19.1%41.0% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50 (best)$1.40
Output$1.20 (best)$4.40
Cached input—$0.26
Blended (3:1)$0.675 (best)$2.15
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 11 providersOfficial Z.AI API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output1,048,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioYesNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · high · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenApache-2.0Open
API model ID—glm-5.3
API providers1162 (best)
ReleasedJul 30, 2026Aug 14, 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.

  • Inkling Small$7.40
  • GLM-5.3$22.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Inkling Small or GLM-5.3?

Inkling Small is the better all-round choice, scoring 70/100 against GLM-5.3 (64). It leads on price and inputs & features. GLM-5.3 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Inkling Small or GLM-5.3?

Inkling Small is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). GLM-5.3 costs $1.40 input / $4.40 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.675 per million tokens for Inkling Small versus $2.15 for GLM-5.3 (3.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GLM-5.3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GLM-5.3 155.8 (#24 of 148) and Inkling Small 150.2 (#47 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (153.7–158.3 vs 147.5–152.1), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GLM-5.3 90.9%, Inkling Small 88.5%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GLM-5.3 68.8%, Inkling Small 46.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GLM-5.3 91.1%, Inkling Small 90.0%; SimpleQA Verified — GLM-5.3 41.0%, Inkling Small 19.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Inkling Small and GLM-5.3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GLM-5.3 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?

Inkling Small has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for GLM-5.3. Maximum output per response: Inkling Small up to 1,048,576, GLM-5.3 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Inkling Small accepts text, images and audio; GLM-5.3 accepts text. Inkling Small handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.

Which is newer?

GLM-5.3 is the newest, released Aug 14, 2026. Inkling Small came out Jul 30, 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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