Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GLM-5.2 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) by Anthropic or GLM-5.2 (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 Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 22.3 points higher (56.0 vs 33.7) but costs 3.5× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $2097; both flagship class). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when you need intelligence above 33.7, and GLM-5.2 (Max) when 33.7 is enough.
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GLM-5.2 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 33.7 | −39.8% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 39.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $2,097.29 | −71.1% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 71.1% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 367.63s | 29.78s | −91.9% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 91.9% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
GLM-5.2 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 39.8% less intelligence, 71.1% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 91.9% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
- GLM-5.2 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GLM-5.2 (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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