Claude Opus 4 vs GLM-5.3-Flash
Comparing Claude Opus 4 and GLM-5.3-Flash across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
Anthropic · Zhipu AI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
Claude Opus 4 and GLM-5.3-Flash trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.
On price, GLM-5.3-Flash is roughly 126.3x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
GLM-5.3-Flash also accepts a larger context window (1,048,576 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose Claude Opus 4
- you want predictable pricing at $15.00/M input and $75.00/M output
Choose GLM-5.3-Flash
- cost matters — it's about 126.3x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,048,576 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
Claude Opus 4 and GLM-5.3-Flashdon't have any common benchmark datasets to compare. They may have been evaluated on different testing suites.
Arena Performance
Playground indexes and blind preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, Claude Opus 4 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 100.0x more expensive than GLM-5.3-Flash ($0.15/1M tokens).
For output processing, Claude Opus 4 ($75.00/1M tokens) is 150.0x more expensive than GLM-5.3-Flash ($0.50/1M tokens).
In conclusion, Claude Opus 4 is more expensive than GLM-5.3-Flash.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
GLM-5.3-Flash accepts 1,048,576 input tokens compared to Claude Opus 4's 200,000 tokens. GLM-5.3-Flash can generate longer responses up to 131,072 tokens, while Claude Opus 4 is limited to 32,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Both Claude Opus 4 and GLM-5.3-Flash support multimodal inputs.
They are both capable of processing various types of data, offering versatility in application.
Claude Opus 4
GLM-5.3-Flash
License
Usage and distribution terms
Claude Opus 4 is licensed under a proprietary license, while GLM-5.3-Flash uses MIT.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
MIT
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
Claude Opus 4 was released on 2025-05-22, while GLM-5.3-Flash was released on 2026-08-26.
GLM-5.3-Flash is 15 months newer than Claude Opus 4.
May 22, 2025
1.3 years ago
Aug 26, 2026
0 days ago
1.3yr newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
Claude Opus 4 is available from Anthropic, Bedrock, Google. GLM-5.3-Flash is available from DeepInfra, Novita, ZAI.
Claude Opus 4
GLM-5.3-Flash
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against Claude Opus 4 and GLM-5.3-Flash side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about Claude Opus 4 vs GLM-5.3-Flash.