Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GLM-5.3 (Low)
Which is better for the money: Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GLM-5.3 (Low) by Z AI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) scores 23.3 points higher (57.6 vs 34.3) but costs 8.6× as much to run the benchmark ($8708 vs $1013; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) when you need intelligence above 34.3, and GLM-5.3 (Low) when 34.3 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GLM-5.3 (Low) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 57.6 | 34.3 | −40.5% GLM-5.3 (Low) is 40.5% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $8,708.20 | $1,012.50 | −88.4% GLM-5.3 (Low) is 88.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 626.13s | 31.21s | −95.0% GLM-5.3 (Low) is 95.0% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $4.00 / $20.0 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
GLM-5.3 (Low) vs Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 40.5% less intelligence, 88.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 95.0% 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 (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
Claude Opus 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GLM-5.3 (Low)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-low · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/claude-opus-5-5/glm-5-3-low?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill