Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) vs GLM-5.1 (Reasoning)
Which is better for the money: Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) by Google or GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) 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-5.1 (Reasoning) scores 17.2 points higher (26.1 vs 8.9) but costs 101× as much to run the benchmark ($1487 vs $14.7; premium vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) when you need intelligence above 8.9, and Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) when 8.9 is enough.
| Metric | Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) | GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.9 | 26.1 | +193.3% GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is 2.9× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $14.68 | $1,486.78 | +10027.9% GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is 101× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 57.75s | 63.24s | +9.5% GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is 9.5% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.02 / $0.10 | $1.28 / $4.07 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) vs Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning): 193.3% more intelligence, 10027.9% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 9.5% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Low) scores 21.50 for $10.6.
- GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning)GLM-5.1 (Reasoning)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/gemma-4-e4b/glm-5-1 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemma-4-e4b/glm-5-1?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill