Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) vs GLM-5.3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Claude Sonnet 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 Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… scores 11.2 points higher (56.0 vs 44.8) but costs 2.9× as much to run the benchmark ($7260 vs $2503; both flagship class). Pick Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallbac… when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GLM-5.3 (Max).
| Metric | Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback) | GLM-5.3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 56.0 | 44.8 | −20.0% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 20.0% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $7,259.50 | $2,503.48 | −65.5% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 65.5% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 367.63s | 28.79s | −92.2% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 92.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $2.00 / $10.0 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text |
GLM-5.3 (Max) vs Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback): 20.0% less intelligence, 65.5% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 92.2% 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-5.3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Max, Default Fallback)GLM-5.3 (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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