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AI model comparison

Step 5 Preview vs GLM 5.3 FlashX

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

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StepFun

Step 5 Preview

Step 5 Preview is StepFun's flagship model for agentic work, built on a sparse Mixture-of-Experts architecture (27B active / 600B total parameters).

Input / 1M
$1
Output / 1M
$2.70
Context
1M
z-ai logo

Z.ai

GLM 5.3 FlashX

GLM-5.3-FlashX is the high-speed variant of Z.ai's GLM-5.3-Flash, a native multimodal model delivering inference speeds of up to 200 tokens/s.

Input / 1M
$0.37
Output / 1M
$1.25
Context
1.05M

At a glance

Quick verdict

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

Lower price

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GLM 5.3 FlashX

2.5x cheaper for a typical chat

Higher intelligence score

Tie

Not enough benchmark data

Larger context window

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GLM 5.3 FlashX

1.05M vs 1M tokens

Newer release

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Step 5 Preview

Released October 8, 2026

Pricing

Step 5 Preview vs GLM 5.3 FlashX API pricing

Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.

Metricstepfun logoStep 5 Previewz-ai logoGLM 5.3 FlashX
Input tokensPer 1M tokens$1$0.37
Output tokensPer 1M tokens$2.70$1.25
Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens$0.05$0.09
Cache writePer 1M tokensNot availableNot available

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

stepfun logoStep 5 Preview$3.35
z-ai logoGLM 5.3 FlashX$1.37

Coding task

30K in, 4K out

stepfun logoStep 5 Preview$40.80$12.30 cached
z-ai logoGLM 5.3 FlashX$16.10$7.70 cached

Long document summary

150K in, 2K out

stepfun logoStep 5 Preview$155.40$12.90 cached
z-ai logoGLM 5.3 FlashX$58$16 cached

Specs

Context window and capabilities

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

Metricstepfun logoStep 5 Previewz-ai logoGLM 5.3 FlashX
Context window1M tokens1.05M tokens
Max output64K tokens131K tokens
Input typesImage, Text, VideoImage, Text, Video
Output typesTextText
Reasoning effort levelsHigh, Medium, LowMax, High, Low
Default reasoning effortMediumMax
Release dateOctober 8, 2026September 18, 2026

Features

Supported features

API features available for each model.

Metricstepfun logoStep 5 Previewz-ai logoGLM 5.3 FlashX
Tool callingSupportedSupported
Structured outputsSupportedNot supported
JSON modeSupportedSupported
ReasoningSupportedSupported
TemperatureSupportedSupported
Stop sequencesSupportedNot supported
Deterministic seedNot supportedNot supported
Verbosity controlNot supportedNot supported

Our take

GLM 5.3 FlashX is 2.5x cheaper for a typical chat. GLM 5.3 FlashX 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 Step 5 Preview or GLM 5.3 FlashX cheaper?

GLM 5.3 FlashX is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). GLM 5.3 FlashX costs $0.37 per 1M input tokens and $1.25 per 1M output tokens, while Step 5 Preview costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $2.70 per 1M output tokens.

Which has a bigger context window, Step 5 Preview or GLM 5.3 FlashX?

GLM 5.3 FlashX supports up to 1.05M tokens of context, compared with 1M for Step 5 Preview.

Can I use Step 5 Preview and GLM 5.3 FlashX at the same time?

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

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Why choose? Ask both.

Send one prompt to Step 5 Preview and GLM 5.3 FlashX at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.

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