AI model comparison

GLM 5.3 Flash vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite

Side by side comparison of GLM 5.3 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite on pricing, benchmark scores, context window, and more.

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

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite is Google’s GA high-efficiency multimodal model optimized for low-latency, high-volume workloads.

Input / 1M: $0.25
Output / 1M: $1.50
Context: 1.05M

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At a glance

Quick verdict

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

Lower price

GLM 5.3 Flash

2.3x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

Not available

Not enough benchmark data

Larger context window

Tie

1.05M vs 1.05M tokens

Newer release

GLM 5.3 Flash

Released August 26, 2026

Benchmarks

Benchmark scores

Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.

Intelligence index

GLM 5.3 FlashNot available

Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteNot available

Coding index

GLM 5.3 Flash71.5

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite34.7

Agentic index

GLM 5.3 Flash50.9

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite1.6

Pricing

GLM 5.3 Flash vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metric	GLM 5.3 Flash	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
Input tokensPer 1M tokens	$0.15	$0.25
Output tokensPer 1M tokens	$0.50	$1.50
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens	$0.03	$0.03
Cache writePer 1M tokens	Not available	$0.08
Web searchPer request	Not available	$0.014

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

GLM 5.3 Flash$0.55

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite$1.25

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

GLM 5.3 Flash$6.50$2.90 cached

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite$13.50$6.75 cached

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

GLM 5.3 Flash$23.50$5.50 cached

Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite$40.50$6.75 cached

Specs

Context window and capabilities

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

Metric	GLM 5.3 Flash	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
Context window	1.05M tokens	1.05M tokens
Max output	944K tokens	66K tokens
Input types	Image, Text, Video	Audio, File, Image, Text, Video
Output types	Text	Text
Reasoning effort levels	Max, High, Low	High, Medium, Low, Minimal, None
Default reasoning effort	Max	Minimal
Release date	August 26, 2026	May 7, 2026

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metric	GLM 5.3 Flash	Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
Tool calling	Supported	Supported
Structured outputs	Supported	Supported
JSON mode	Supported	Supported
Reasoning	Supported	Supported
Temperature	Supported	Supported
Stop sequences	Supported	Supported
Deterministic seed	Supported	Supported
Verbosity control	Not supported	Not supported

Our take

GLM 5.3 Flash is 2.3x cheaper for a typical chat. 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 Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite 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 Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite costs $0.25 per 1M input tokens and $1.50 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, GLM 5.3 Flash or Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite?

GLM 5.3 Flash supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 1.05M for Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite.

Can I use GLM 5.3 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite at the same time?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see GLM 5.3 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite answer side by side and keep the better response.

Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to GLM 5.3 Flash and Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.

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