ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

MiniMax-M3 vs GLM-5.3-Flash

GLM-5.3-Flash comes out ahead, 80 to 69 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. MiniMax

    MiniMax-M3

    Released Jun 1, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI147.0
    • Price$0.30 / $1.20
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove MiniMax-M3
  2. 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

  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 MiniMax-M3 (69). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. 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 · MiniMax-M3 147.0
  • Lowest priceGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 · MiniMax-M3 $0.525 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextMiniMax-M3MiniMax-M3 1,048,576 · GLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGLM-5.3-FlashMiniMax-M3: Text, Images, Video · GLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
How the score is built
MeasureWeightMiniMax-M3GLM-5.3-Flash
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7481
Price25%6379
Inputs & features15%7090
Context window10%6160
Overall100%69/10080/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

MiniMax-M3 vs GLM-5.3-Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationMiniMax-M3MiniMaxGLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)147.0151.9 (best)
ECI rank#62 of 148#42 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions90.9% (best)90.2%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—55.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics71.1%93.9% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.15 (best)
Output$1.20$0.50 (best)
Cached input$0.06$0.03 (best)
Blended (3:1)$0.525$0.237 (best)
Long-context rateOver 512K: $0.60 / $2.40Same rate
Price sourceOfficial MiniMax (minimax.io) APIOfficial Z.AI API
Limits
Context window1,048,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output512,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYesYeslow · high · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDMiniMax-M3glm-5.3-flash
API providers4265 (best)
ReleasedJun 1, 2026Aug 26, 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.

  • MiniMax-M3$5.40
  • GLM-5.3-Flash$2.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: MiniMax-M3 or GLM-5.3-Flash?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against MiniMax-M3 (69). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax-M3 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). MiniMax-M3 costs $0.30 input / $1.20 output per million tokens (official MiniMax (minimax.io) 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 $0.525 for MiniMax-M3 (2.2× 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 MiniMax-M3 147.0 (#62 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (149.4–154.3 vs 142.7–149.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — MiniMax-M3 90.9%, GLM-5.3-Flash 90.2%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GLM-5.3-Flash 93.9%, MiniMax-M3 71.1%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for MiniMax-M3 and GLM-5.3-Flash 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?

MiniMax-M3 has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for GLM-5.3-Flash. Maximum output per response: MiniMax-M3 up to 512,000, GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

MiniMax-M3 accepts text, images and video; 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?

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. MiniMax-M3 came out Jun 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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