Which is better, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3?

On quality, neither model leads clearly across the 9 measures both have. 3 measures are too close to call. Gemini 3.6 Flash costs about 30% less than GLM-5.3 on a blended price of $1.50 against $2.15 per million tokens. Which one is better for you depends on your task and budget, so test both on your own work.

Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3?

Gemini 3.6 Flash is cheaper on blended price: $1.50 per million tokens for Gemini 3.6 Flash against $2.15 for GLM-5.3. For 100 chats of about 1,000 tokens in and 500 tokens back, that is about $0.26 for Gemini 3.6 Flash and $0.36 for GLM-5.3.

Which is better for coding, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3?

On Arena coding rating they are too close to call (1518 and 1521).

AI Rankings

Gemini 3.6 Flash vs GLM-5.3: Scores, Price and Which to Choose

Side by side on every measure both models share: overall score, human votes, tests, price and context window. Close results are called too close to call.

Data updated 26 Oct 2026

Read the model pages for the full picture: Gemini 3.6 Flash and GLM-5.3.

Side by side

A check mark shows the better side on each measure. Scores that are too close to call have no winner.

Gemini 3.6 Flash compared with GLM-5.3Gemini 3.6 Flash against GLM-5.3 on 11 measures. Gemini 3.6 Flash is better on 4, GLM-5.3 on 3, 4 are too close to call, 0 have no data for one side.

Gemini 3.6 Flash
GLM-5.3

Epoch Capabilities IndexToo close to call
Combined score over many tests. Bar shows where it sits between the lowest and highest score we track.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
154.5
GLM-5.3:
156.0
Arena text ratingToo close to call
Rating from head-to-head votes by people. Bar shows where it sits between the lowest and highest score we track.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
1483
GLM-5.3:
1481
Arena coding ratingToo close to call
Rating from head-to-head votes by people. Bar shows where it sits between the lowest and highest score we track.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
1518
GLM-5.3:
1521
Arena web development ratingGLM-5.3 leads
Rating from head-to-head votes by people. Bar shows where it sits between the lowest and highest score we track.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
1538
GLM-5.3:
Better: 1623
DeepSWEGLM-5.3 leads
Software engineering tasks scored as the share solved on the first try (pass@1), run with the open mini-SWE-agent setup.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
46.7%
GLM-5.3:
Better: 69.0%
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)GLM-5.3 leads
Original, very hard maths problems written by mathematicians.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
59.0%
GLM-5.3:
Better: 68.8%
GPQA DiamondGemini 3.6 Flash leads
Very hard multiple-choice science questions in biology, physics and chemistry, written by experts and designed so a quick web search does not give the answer.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
Better: 94.1%
GLM-5.3:
90.9%
OTIS Mock AIMEGemini 3.6 Flash leads
Maths competition problems in the style of the US AIME exam, from the 2024 and 2025 sets.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
Better: 94.2%
GLM-5.3:
91.1%
SimpleQA VerifiedGemini 3.6 Flash leads
Short factual questions that each have one correct answer.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
Better: 66.2%
GLM-5.3:
41.0%
Blended price per million tokensGemini 3.6 Flash costs less
Blended price: lower is better.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
Better: $1.50
GLM-5.3:
$2.15
Context windowToo close to call
How much text it can read at once.
Gemini 3.6 Flash:
1M tokens
GLM-5.3:
1M tokens

Data updated 26 Oct 2026. Only measures that both models have are shown.

The numbers

Gemini 3.6 Flash against GLM-5.3, measure by measure. A check mark shows the better side.
Measure	Gemini 3.6 Flash	GLM-5.3
Epoch Capabilities IndexToo close to call	154.5	156.0
Arena text ratingToo close to call	1483	1481
Arena coding ratingToo close to call	1518	1521
Arena web development rating	1538	1623
DeepSWE	46.7%	69.0%
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)	59.0%	68.8%
GPQA Diamond	94.1%	90.9%
OTIS Mock AIME	94.2%	91.1%
SimpleQA Verified	66.2%	41.0%
Blended price per million tokens	$1.50	$2.15
Context windowToo close to call	1M tokens	1M tokens

What it costs in everyday terms

Estimate for 100 chats of about 1,000 tokens in and 500 tokens back, from list prices. Your bill depends on how you use it.

100 chats with Gemini 3.6 Flash: $0.26; Blended price $1.50 per million tokens.
100 chats with GLM-5.3: $0.36; Blended price $2.15 per million tokens.

Who should pick which

Pick Gemini 3.6 Flash if these matter most

GPQA Diamond: 94.1% against 90.9%
OTIS Mock AIME: 94.2% against 91.1%
SimpleQA Verified: 66.2% against 41.0%
Blended price per million tokens: $1.50 against $2.15

Pick GLM-5.3 if these matter most

Arena web development rating: 1623 against 1538
DeepSWE: 69.0% against 46.7%
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3): 68.8% against 59.0%

Too close to call: Epoch Capabilities Index, Arena text rating, Arena coding rating, Context window.

Scores come from tests and votes, not from your own work. Try both on a task you care about before you commit.

Go deeper

Gemini 3.6 Flash: full page

GLM-5.3: full page

Questions about this comparison

Which is better, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3?: On quality, neither model leads clearly across the 9 measures both have. 3 measures are too close to call. Gemini 3.6 Flash costs about 30% less than GLM-5.3 on a blended price of $1.50 against $2.15 per million tokens. Which one is better for you depends on your task and budget, so test both on your own work.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3?: Gemini 3.6 Flash is cheaper on blended price: $1.50 per million tokens for Gemini 3.6 Flash against $2.15 for GLM-5.3. For 100 chats of about 1,000 tokens in and 500 tokens back, that is about $0.26 for Gemini 3.6 Flash and $0.36 for GLM-5.3.
Which is better for coding, Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3?: On Arena coding rating they are too close to call (1518 and 1521).

Where this data comes from

Epoch AI: Benchmark data: Epoch AI, 'Capabilities & benchmarking', epoch.ai/benchmarks (CC BY 4.0). We match models across sources, rank them and show them in charts. Scores are not changed. Epoch AI does not endorse this site.
Arena (formerly LMArena): Human-preference ratings: Arena (arena.ai) leaderboard dataset, CC BY 4.0. We keep the latest published ratings, match them to models from other sources and rank them. Ratings are not changed. Arena does not endorse this site.
LiteLLM model price list: Prices and context windows: LiteLLM model price list (github.com/BerriAI/litellm, MIT licence). We use the model maker's own price entry when there is one. Prices change often, so always confirm on the maker's site before you buy.

Newest data on this page: 26 Oct 2026. Prices are list prices and change often, so confirm on the maker's site before you buy. Sponsors never change a score or an order. How we calculate this · Report a mistake