AI model comparison

GLM 5.3 Flash vs Claude Opus 5

Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.

GLM-5.3-Flash is a native multimodal model from Z.ai. It is suited for efficient coding and long-horizon agent tasks.

Input / 1M
$0.15
Output / 1M
$0.50
Context
1.05M
anthropic logo

Anthropic

Claude Opus 5

Claude Opus 5 is Anthropic’s flagship model for demanding reasoning, coding, and long-horizon agentic work.

Input / 1M
$5
Output / 1M
$25
Context
1M

At a glance

Quick verdict

How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.

Lower price

z-ai logo

GLM 5.3 Flash

40.9x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

anthropic logo

Claude Opus 5

50.8 vs 41.8 on Artificial Analysis

Larger context window

z-ai logo

GLM 5.3 Flash

1.05M vs 1M tokens

Newer release

z-ai logo

GLM 5.3 Flash

Released August 26, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

z-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flash41.8
anthropic logoClaude Opus 550.8

Coding index

z-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flash71.5
anthropic logoClaude Opus 578

Agentic index

z-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flash50.9
anthropic logoClaude Opus 556.5

Pricing

GLM 5.3 Flash vs Claude Opus 5 API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricz-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flashanthropic logoClaude Opus 5
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$0.15$5
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$0.50$25
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens$0.03$0.50
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot available$6.25
Web searchPer requestNot available$0.01

What it costs in practice

Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.

Chat message

2K in, 500 out

z-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flash$0.55
anthropic logoClaude Opus 5$22.50

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

z-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flash$6.50$2.90 cached
anthropic logoClaude Opus 5$250$115 cached

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

z-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flash$23.50$5.50 cached
anthropic logoClaude Opus 5$800$125 cached

Specs

Context window and capabilities

How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.

Metricz-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flashanthropic logoClaude Opus 5
Context window1.05M tokens1M tokens
Max output944K tokens128K tokens
Input typesImage, Text, VideoFile, Image, Text
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsMax, High, LowMax, Extra high, High, Medium, Low
Default reasoning effortMaxHigh
Release dateAugust 26, 2026July 24, 2026

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricz-ai logoGLM 5.3 Flashanthropic logoClaude Opus 5
Tool callingSupportedSupported
Structured outputsSupportedSupported
JSON modeSupportedSupported
ReasoningSupportedSupported
TemperatureSupportedNot supported
Stop sequencesSupportedSupported
Deterministic seedSupportedNot supported
Verbosity controlNot supportedSupported

Our take

GLM 5.3 Flash is 40.9x cheaper for a typical chat. Claude Opus 5 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (50.8 vs 41.8). GLM 5.3 Flash has the larger context window (1.05M vs 1M tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM 5.3 Flash or Claude Opus 5 cheaper?

GLM 5.3 Flash is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.15 per 1M input tokens and $0.50 per 1M output tokens, while Claude Opus 5 costs $5 per 1M input tokens and $25 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, GLM 5.3 Flash or Claude Opus 5?

GLM 5.3 Flash supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 1M for Claude Opus 5.

Is GLM 5.3 Flash smarter than Claude Opus 5?

On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, GLM 5.3 Flash scores 41.8 and Claude Opus 5 scores 50.8, putting Claude Opus 5 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.

Can I use GLM 5.3 Flash and Claude Opus 5 at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see GLM 5.3 Flash and Claude Opus 5 answer side by side and keep the better response.

z-ai logoanthropic logo

Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to GLM 5.3 Flash and Claude Opus 5 at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.