GLM-5.3 vs Mercury 2
Comparing GLM-5.3 and Mercury 2 across benchmarks, pricing, and capabilities.
Zhipu AI · Inception · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
GLM-5.3 and Mercury 2 trade strengths across price, capabilities, and technical limits. The better choice depends on the workload.
On price, Mercury 2 is roughly 5.7x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
GLM-5.3 also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose GLM-5.3
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026
Choose Mercury 2
- cost matters — it's about 5.7x cheaper per token
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
GLM-5.3 and Mercury 2don'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, GLM-5.3 ($1.40/1M tokens) is 5.6x more expensive than Mercury 2 ($0.25/1M tokens).
For output processing, GLM-5.3 ($4.40/1M tokens) is 5.9x more expensive than Mercury 2 ($0.75/1M tokens).
In conclusion, GLM-5.3 is more expensive than Mercury 2.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
GLM-5.3 accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to Mercury 2's 128,000 tokens. GLM-5.3 can generate longer responses up to 128,000 tokens, while Mercury 2 is limited to 8,192 tokens.
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
GLM-5.3 was released on 2026-08-14, while Mercury 2 was released on 2026-02-24.
GLM-5.3 is 6 months newer than Mercury 2.
Aug 14, 2026
1 weeks ago
5mo newerFeb 24, 2026
6 months ago
Knowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.
Unable to compare the recency of their training data.
Provider Availability
GLM-5.3 is available from ZAI. Mercury 2 is available from Inception.
GLM-5.3
Mercury 2
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against GLM-5.3 and Mercury 2 side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about GLM-5.3 vs Mercury 2.