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GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3.8 Max

GLM-5.3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Zhipu AI · Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team · Updated for 2026

Which is better?

GLM-5.3 outperforms in 7 benchmarks (AutomationBench, DeepSWE 1.1, FrontierSWE, Humanity's Last Exam, NL2Repo, Terminal-Bench 2.1, Toolathlon), while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (Agents' Last Exam). GLM-5.3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Based on current benchmark, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.

Choose GLM-5.3

  • you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 7 of 8 shared benchmarks
  • you want the most recent training data — it shipped Aug 2026

Choose Qwen3.8 Max

  • you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune

At a glance

The differences that matter most.

GLM-5.3
Zhipu AI
Qwen3.8 Max
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Benchmark wins
7 of 8
1 of 8
Input price
$1.40 / M
— / M
Output price
$4.40 / M
— / M
Context window
1,000,000
—
Released
Aug 2026
Aug 2026
License
Unknown
Qwen3.8-Max License

Performance Benchmarks

Comparative analysis across standard metrics

8 benchmarks

GLM-5.3 outperforms in 7 benchmarks (AutomationBench, DeepSWE 1.1, FrontierSWE, Humanity's Last Exam, NL2Repo, Terminal-Bench 2.1, Toolathlon), while Qwen3.8 Max is better at 1 benchmark (Agents' Last Exam).

GLM-5.3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks.

Mon Aug 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

Arena Performance

Playground indexes and blind preference scores

Model Size

Parameter count comparison

1647.0B diff

Qwen3.8 Max has 1647.0B more parameters than GLM-5.3, making it 218.7% larger.

Zhipu AI
GLM-5.3
753.0Bparameters
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
2.4Tparameters
753.0B
GLM-5.3
2400.0B
Qwen3.8 Max

Context Window

Maximum input and output token capacity

Only GLM-5.3 specifies input context (1,000,000 tokens). Only GLM-5.3 specifies output context (128,000 tokens).

Zhipu AI
GLM-5.3
Input1,000,000 tokens
Output128,000 tokens
Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team
Qwen3.8 Max
Input- tokens
Output- tokens
Mon Aug 24 2026 • llm-stats.com

Input Capabilities

Supported data types and modalities

Qwen3.8 Max supports multimodal inputs, whereas GLM-5.3 does not.

Qwen3.8 Max can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.

GLM-5.3

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Qwen3.8 Max

Text
Images
Audio
Video

Release Timeline

When each model was launched

GLM-5.3 was released on 2026-08-14, while Qwen3.8 Max was released on 2026-08-02.

GLM-5.3 is 0 month newer than Qwen3.8 Max.

GLM-5.3

Aug 14, 2026

1 weeks ago

1w newer
Qwen3.8 Max

Aug 2, 2026

3 weeks ago

Knowledge Cutoff

When training data ends

Neither model specifies a knowledge cutoff date.

Unable to compare the recency of their training data.

No cutoff dates available

Outputs Comparison

Notice missing or incorrect data?Start an Issue discussion→

Judge for yourself.

Run your own prompts against GLM-5.3 and Qwen3.8 Max side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.

GLM-5.3
✓ Preferred
Qwen3.8 Max
Open in Playground

FAQ

Common questions about GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3.8 Max.

Which is better, GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.8 Max?

GLM-5.3 significantly outperforms across most benchmarks. GLM-5.3 is made by Zhipu AI and Qwen3.8 Max is made by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team. The best choice depends on your use case — compare their benchmark scores, pricing, and capabilities above.

How does GLM-5.3 compare to Qwen3.8 Max in benchmarks?

GLM-5.3 scores Terminal-Bench 2.1: 88.2%, CyberGym: 84.5%, FrontierSWE: 78.1%, Toolathlon: 73.0%, DeepSWE 1.1: 66.9%. Qwen3.8 Max scores PaperBench: 93.0%, MRCR v2 (8-needle): 92.9%, GPQA: 92.6%, VideoMME w sub.: 90.4%, RealWorldQA: 88.0%.

What are the context window sizes for GLM-5.3 and Qwen3.8 Max?

GLM-5.3 supports 1.0M tokens and Qwen3.8 Max supports an unknown number of tokens. A larger context window lets you process longer documents, conversations, or codebases in a single request.

What are the main differences between GLM-5.3 and Qwen3.8 Max?

Key differences include multimodal support (no vs yes), licensing (Unknown vs Qwen3.8-Max License). See the full comparison above for benchmark-by-benchmark results.

Who makes GLM-5.3 and Qwen3.8 Max?

GLM-5.3 is developed by Zhipu AI and Qwen3.8 Max is developed by Alibaba Cloud / Qwen Team.

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