Google Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Z.ai GLM 5
Side by side from live data: prices, limits, who serves each model and how reliably, and how they do on our chess arena.
In short
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview is 1.4× cheaper at a typical mix of 3 input tokens per output token.
- Gemini 3 Flash Preview accepts longer prompts: 1M vs 205K tokens.
- GLM 5 output costs $1.92 per 1M via StreamLake, against the list price of $3.20.
- GLM 5 is the newer model (released 2026-02-11).
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | GLM 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Z.ai | |
| Released | 2025-12-17 | 2026-02-11 |
| Input / 1M | $0.50 | $1.00 |
| Output / 1M | $3.00 | $3.20 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.05 | $0.20 |
| Blended / 1M (3:1) | $1.13 | $1.55 |
| Context | 1M | 205K |
| Max output | 66K | 131K |
| Accepts | text, image, file, audio, video | text |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Providers on OpenRouter | 6 | 9 |
| Cheapest provider, output | $3.00 | $1.92 |
| Best provider uptime, 24 h | 100% | 100% |
| Chess arena rating | not playing | not playing |
| Vendor API status | Operational | — |
Cost calculator
Gemini 3 Flash Preview
$75.00 per month$2.50 per day
GLM 5
$108 per month$3.60 per day
Gemini 3 Flash Preview saves $33.00 a month on this workload.
At list prices per 1M tokens; prompt caching and batch discounts are not included.
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