DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) vs GLM-5.3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) by DeepSeek 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
GLM-5.3 (Max) scores 20.6 points higher (44.8 vs 24.2) but costs 17× as much to run the benchmark ($2503 vs $149; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GLM-5.3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 24.2, and DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) when 24.2 is enough.
| Metric | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) | GLM-5.3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 24.2 | 44.8 | +85.1% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 85.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $149.48 | $2,503.48 | +1574.8% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 17× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 100.76s | 28.73s | −71.5% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 71.5% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.11 / $0.23 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text |
GLM-5.3 (Max) vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max): 85.1% more intelligence, 1574.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 71.5% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
- 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.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0420 (Max)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/deepseek-v4-flash-0420/glm-5-3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/deepseek-v4-flash-0420/glm-5-3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill