Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs GLM-5.2 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite by Google 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 18.1 points higher (33.7 vs 15.6) but costs 13× as much to run the benchmark ($2097 vs $156; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GLM-5.2 (Max) when you need intelligence above 15.6, and Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite when 15.6 is enough.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | GLM-5.2 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 15.6 | 33.7 | +116.0% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 2.2× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $155.87 | $2,097.29 | +1245.5% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 13× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.15s | 29.78s | +384.2% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 384.2% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.25 / $1.50 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
GLM-5.2 (Max) vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: 116.0% more intelligence, 1245.5% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 384.2% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Max) scores 38.10 for $122.
- GLM-5.2 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGLM-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/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview/glm-5-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-1-flash-lite-preview/glm-5-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill