DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) vs GLM-5.2 (Max)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) by DeepSeek 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
GLM-5.2 (Max) scores 25.2 points higher (33.7 vs 8.5) but costs 83× as much to run the benchmark ($2097 vs $25.4; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GLM-5.2 (Max) when you need intelligence above 8.5, and DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) when 8.5 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) | GLM-5.2 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.5 | 33.7 | +296.5% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 4.0× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $25.37 | $2,097.29 | +8166.8% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 83× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 11.84s | 29.25s | +147.0% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 147.0% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.32 / $0.89 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
GLM-5.2 (Max) vs DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24): 296.5% more intelligence, 8166.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 147.0% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- GLM-5.2 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
DeepSeek V3 (Dec '24)GLM-5.2 (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/deepseek-v3/glm-5-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v3/glm-5-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill