Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GLM-5.3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GLM-5.3 (Max) by Z AI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 12.8 points higher (57.6 vs 44.8) but costs 3.5× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $2503; both flagship class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 44.8, and GLM-5.3 (Max) when 44.8 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GLM-5.3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 44.8 | −22.2% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 22.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $2,503.48 | −71.3% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 71.3% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 643.67s | 28.79s | −95.5% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 95.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
GLM-5.3 (Max) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 22.2% less intelligence, 71.3% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 95.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is on today's frontier: nothing is both smarter and cheaper.
- GLM-5.3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GLM-5.3 (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-5-5/glm-5-3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-5-5/glm-5-3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill