Grok 4.3 vs GLM-5.3
Side-by-side comparison of API pricing, specs, benchmarks, and capabilities
| Specification |
by xAI
|
by Z.AI
|
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Status | Current flagship | Current flagship |
| Released | Apr 30, 2026 | Aug 14, 2026 |
| Pricing per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.25/Mtok | $1.40/Mtok |
| Output | $2.50/Mtok | $4.40/Mtok |
| Blended avg | $1.56/Mtok | $2.15/Mtok |
| Cached input | $0.200/Mtok | $0.260/Mtok |
| Specifications | ||
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Parameters | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Speed (TPS) | — | — |
| Modalities | ||
| Input |
textimage
|
text
|
| Benchmarks sources: xAI model card, Artificial Analysis / Artificial Analysis | ||
| Independent composite scores measured for both models — each on its own scale | ||
| AA Intelligence Index | 37.9 | 59.5 |
| AA Agentic Index | 24.2 | 59.1 |
| AA-Omniscience Index (−100–100) | 18 | 14.3 |
| GDPval-AA v2 | — | 1769 ELO |
| LMSYS Chatbot Arena | 1441.5 ELO | — |
| Per-benchmark results published for Grok 4.3 only — no independent per-benchmark scores exist for GLM-5.3 yet | ||
| Avg benchmark score | 72.4 | — |
| Perf / dollar | 46.3 | — |
| GPQA Diamond | 80 | — |
| SWE-Bench Verified | 65 | — |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 38 | — |
| ARC-AGI 2 | 42 | — |
| AIME 2025 | 85 | — |
| MMMLU | 86 | — |
| BFCL | 78 | — |
| HumanEval | 90 | — |
| MATH 500 | 88 | — |
| Providers | ||
| Available from |
xAI — $1.25/$2.50/Mtok
|
Z.AI — $1.40/$4.40/Mtok
|
Cost at scale
1M tokens · 50/50 input/output| Volume | Grok 4.3 | GLM-5.3 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M tokens | $1.56 | $2.15 | $0.59 (27.4%) |
| 10M tokens | $15.63 | $21.5 | $5.88 (27.3%) |
| 100M tokens | $156.25 | $215 | $58.75 (27.3%) |
| 1000M tokens | $1562.5 | $2150 | $587.5 (27.3%) |
When to pick which
distilled from the pricing and spec data above- cost dominates: $1.56/Mtok blended vs $2.15 — 27.3% less on the same 50/50 token mix
- your workload re-reads context (agents, RAG, long chats): cached input costs $0.200/Mtok — 84% off its list input price
- this pairing gives GLM-5.3 no edge on price, context, cache discount, or measured performance — pick it only for qualitative fit (ecosystem, compliance, model behavior on your prompts)
The cheaper option here — Grok 4.3 costs $1.56/Mtok blended on xAI.
Summary
Grok 4.3 by xAI costs $1.25/Mtok input and $2.50/Mtok output, with a 1M-token context window. It supports text, image input.
GLM-5.3 by Z.AI costs $1.40/Mtok input and $4.40/Mtok output, with a 1M-token context window. It supports text input.
On a blended cost basis, Grok 4.3 is 27.3% cheaper than GLM-5.3.
The two aren't directly comparable on average benchmark score: Grok 4.3 has published per-benchmark results, while GLM-5.3 does not yet — it is measured today on independent composites (see the table above).
Note: Pricing is per million tokens. Actual costs vary with usage patterns, prompt caching, and batch discounts. Always verify against official provider pricing pages.