ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.8 Max 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. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 Max

    Released Aug 3, 2026

    69/100
    • ECI156.6
    • Price$2.00 / $6.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 Max
  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 Qwen3.8 Max (69). It leads on price. Qwen3.8 Max wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.8 MaxCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 · GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9
  • Lowest priceGLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3-Flash $0.237 · Qwen3.8 Max $3.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameQwen3.8 Max 1,000,000 · GLM-5.3-Flash 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3.8 Max: Text, Images, PDFs, Video · GLM-5.3-Flash: Text, Images, PDFs, Video
  • Self-hostingGLM-5.3-FlashPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 MaxGLM-5.3-Flash
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%8681
Price25%2779
Inputs & features15%9090
Context window10%6060
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.

Qwen3.8 Max vs GLM-5.3-Flash specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 MaxAlibaba (Qwen)GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)156.6 (best)151.9
ECI rank#20 of 148 (best)#42 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions92.7% (best)90.2%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics74.7% (best)55.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics99.4% (best)93.9%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions45.8%—
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.15 (best)
Output$6.00$0.50 (best)
Cached input$0.25$0.03 (best)
Blended (3:1)$3.00$0.237 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Z.AI API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,000,000 tokens
Max output131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesYes
AudioNoNo
VideoYesYes
ReasoningYeslow · medium · xhighYeslow · high · max
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDqwen3.8-maxglm-5.3-flash
API providers2565 (best)
ReleasedAug 3, 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.

  • Qwen3.8 Max$32.00
  • GLM-5.3-Flash$2.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 Max or GLM-5.3-Flash?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 80/100 against Qwen3.8 Max (69). It leads on price. Qwen3.8 Max wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 Max 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). Qwen3.8 Max costs $2.00 input / $6.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba 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 Qwen3.8 Max (13× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.8 Max scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 Max 156.6 (#20 of 148) and GLM-5.3-Flash 151.9 (#42 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (154.5–158.8 vs 149.4–154.3), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.8 Max 92.7%, GLM-5.3-Flash 90.2%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — Qwen3.8 Max 74.7%, GLM-5.3-Flash 55.8%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.8 Max 99.4%, GLM-5.3-Flash 93.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 Max and GLM-5.3-Flash yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.8 Max 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?

Qwen3.8 Max and GLM-5.3-Flash share the same 1,000,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 Max up to 131,072, GLM-5.3-Flash up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.8 Max accepts text, images, PDFs and video; GLM-5.3-Flash accepts text, images, PDFs and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

GLM-5.3-Flash publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen3.8 Max is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the newest, released Aug 26, 2026. Qwen3.8 Max came out Aug 3, 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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