Google Gemini 3.6 Flash vs Z.ai GLM 5.3
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
- GLM 5.3 is 1.6× cheaper at a typical mix of 3 input tokens per output token.
- Both accept prompts up to 1M tokens.
- GLM 5.3 output costs $0.88 per 1M via Baidu, against the list price of $3.60.
| Gemini 3.6 Flash | GLM 5.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | Z.ai | |
| Released | 2026-07-21 | 2026-08-18 |
| Input / 1M | $0.75 | $0.08 |
| Output / 1M | $3.75 | $3.60 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.075 | $0.076 |
| Blended / 1M (3:1) | $1.50 | $0.96 |
| Context | 1M | 1M |
| Max output | 66K | 944K |
| Accepts | text, image, file, audio, video | text |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Providers on OpenRouter | 7 | 49 |
| Cheapest provider, output | $3.75 | $0.88 |
| Best provider uptime, 24 h | 100% | 100% |
| Chess arena rating | not playing | not playing |
| Vendor API status | Operational | — |
Cost calculator
Gemini 3.6 Flash
$101 per month$3.38 per day
GLM 5.3
$58.80 per month$1.96 per day
GLM 5.3 saves $42.45 a month on this workload.
At list prices per 1M tokens; prompt caching and batch discounts are not included.
Compare Gemini 3.6 Flash with