Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite vs GLM-5.3-Flash
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite by Google or GLM-5.3-Flash 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-Flash scores 26.2 points higher (41.8 vs 15.6) but costs 2.0× as much to run the benchmark ($306 vs $156; both mid-range class). Pick GLM-5.3-Flash when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite.
| Metric | Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite | GLM-5.3-Flash | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 15.6 | 41.8 | +167.9% GLM-5.3-Flash is 2.7× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $155.87 | $305.52 | +96.0% GLM-5.3-Flash is 96.0% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 6.15s | 38.89s | +532.4% GLM-5.3-Flash is 532.4% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.25 / $1.50 | $0.15 / $0.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text, Image |
GLM-5.3-Flash vs Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: 167.9% more intelligence, 96.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 532.4% 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-5.3-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGLM-5.3-FlashToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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