Muse Spark 1.3 vs GLM-5.3-Flash vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
GLM-5.3-Flash comes out ahead, 80 to 75 and 73 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
MetaMuse Spark 1.3
73/100- ECI156.9
- Price$1.25 / $4.25
- Context1.05M
- Our pick
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-5.3-Flash
80/100- ECI151.9
- Price$0.15 / $0.50
- Context1M
GoogleGemini 3.8 Flash
75/100- ECI156.9
- Price$0.75 / $3.75
- Context1.05M
GLM-5.3-Flash is our pick
GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Gemini 3.8 Flash (75) and Muse Spark 1.3 (73). It leads on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- CapabilityGemini 3.8 FlashCapabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.8 Flash 156.9 · Muse Spark 1.3 156.9 · GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9
- Lowest priceGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 · Gemini 3.8 Flash $1.50 · Muse Spark 1.3 $2.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextMuse Spark 1.3 and Gemini 3.8 FlashMuse Spark 1.3 1,048,576 · Gemini 3.8 Flash 1,048,576 · GLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 tokens
- Widest inputsMuse Spark 1.3 and Gemini 3.8 FlashMuse Spark 1.3: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video · GLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · Gemini 3.8 Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Audio, Video
- Self-hostingGLM-5.3-FlashPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Muse Spark 1.3 | GLM-5.3-Flash | Gemini 3.8 Flash |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 87 | 81 | 87 |
| Price | 25% | 36 | 79 | 42 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 100 | 90 | 100 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 60 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 73/100 | 80/100 | 75/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Muse Spark 1.3Meta | GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu) | Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 156.9 | 151.9 | 156.9 (best) |
| ECI rank | #17 of 148 | #42 of 148 | #15 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 90.2% | 95.4% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 74.4% (best) | 55.8% | 68.4% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 99.2% (best) | 93.9% | 98.9% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | — | 69.7% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.25 | $0.15 (best) | $0.75 |
| Output | $4.25 | $0.50 (best) | $3.75 |
| Cached input | $0.15 | $0.03 (best) | $0.075 |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.00 | $0.237 (best) | $1.50 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Meta API | Official Z.AI API | Official Google API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens (best) | 1,000,000 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 131,072 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Audio | Yes | No | Yes |
| Video | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high · xhigh · max | Yeslow · high · max | Yeslow · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | muse-spark-1.3 | glm-5.3-flash | gemini-3.8-flash |
| API providers | 12 | 65 (best) | 21 |
| Released | Sep 2, 2026 | Aug 26, 2026 | Sep 2, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | — | — |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Muse Spark 1.3$21.00
- GLM-5.3-Flash$2.50
- Gemini 3.8 Flash$15.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Muse Spark 1.3, GLM-5.3-Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Gemini 3.8 Flash (75) and Muse Spark 1.3 (73). It leads on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Muse Spark 1.3, GLM-5.3-Flash or Gemini 3.8 Flash?
GLM-5.3-Flash is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.50 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). Gemini 3.8 Flash costs $0.75 input / $3.75 output per million tokens (official Google API price); Muse Spark 1.3 costs $1.25 input / $4.25 output per million tokens (official Meta 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 $1.50 for Gemini 3.8 Flash (6.3× as much) and $2.00 for Muse Spark 1.3 (8.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Gemini 3.8 Flash scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Gemini 3.8 Flash 156.9 (#15 of 148), Muse Spark 1.3 156.9 (#17 of 148) and GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9 (#42 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (154.6–160.4 vs 154.7–159.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Muse Spark 1.3 74.4%, Gemini 3.8 Flash 68.4%, GLM-5.3-Flash 55.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Muse Spark 1.3 99.2%, Gemini 3.8 Flash 98.9%, GLM-5.3-Flash 93.9%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Muse Spark 1.3, GLM-5.3-Flash and Gemini 3.8 Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Gemini 3.8 Flash leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
Muse Spark 1.3 and Gemini 3.8 Flash have the largest context windows (1,048,576 and 1,048,576 tokens), against 1,000,000 for GLM-5.3-Flash. Maximum output per response: Muse Spark 1.3 up to 131,072, GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072, Gemini 3.8 Flash up to 65,536 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Muse Spark 1.3 accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video; GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video; Gemini 3.8 Flash accepts text, images, PDFs, audio and video. Muse Spark 1.3 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
GLM-5.3-Flash publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Muse Spark 1.3 and Gemini 3.8 Flash is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Muse Spark 1.3 is the newest, released Sep 2, 2026. Gemini 3.8 Flash came out Sep 2, 2026; GLM-5.3-Flash came out Aug 26, 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.
