ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Mistral Small 3.2 vs GLM-5.3-Flash

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. 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
  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 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-FlashMistral Small 3.2: Text, Images · 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
MeasureWeightMistral Small 3.2GLM-5.3-Flash
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5581
Price25%8979
Inputs & features15%5090
Context window10%2460
Overall100%60/10080/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Mistral Small 3.2 vs GLM-5.3-Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationMistral Small 3.2Mistral AIGLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)131.7151.9 (best)
ECI rank#123 of 148#42 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions49.1%90.2% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—55.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics30.3%93.9% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.15
Output$0.30 (best)$0.50
Cached input—$0.03
Blended (3:1)$0.15 (best)$0.237
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Mistral APIOfficial Z.AI API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoYeslow · high · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpen
API model IDmistral-small-2506glm-5.3-flash
API providers665 (best)
ReleasedJun 20, 2025Aug 26, 2026
Knowledge cutoffMar 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.

  • Mistral Small 3.2$1.60
  • GLM-5.3-Flash$2.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

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, Mistral Small 3.2 or GLM-5.3-Flash?

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 Mistral Small 3.2 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?

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: Mistral Small 3.2 up to 16,384, GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Mistral Small 3.2 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?

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

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