Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) vs GLM-5.3 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) by Google or GLM-5.3 (Max) by Z AI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GLM-5.3 (Max) scores 5.0 points higher (44.8 vs 39.8) but costs 2.3× as much to run the benchmark ($2503 vs $1100; flagship vs premium cost classes). Pick GLM-5.3 (Max) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium).
| Metric | Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) | GLM-5.3 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 39.8 | 44.8 | +12.6% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 12.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,100.06 | $2,503.48 | +127.6% GLM-5.3 (Max) is 2.3× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | Not reported | 31.61s | — not comparable |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.75 / $3.75 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
GLM-5.3 (Max) vs Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium): 12.6% more intelligence, 127.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and end-to-end time not fully reported.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- 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.
Gemini 3.8 Flash (Medium)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/gemini-3-8-flash-medium/glm-5-3 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemini-3-8-flash-medium/glm-5-3?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill