Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) vs GLM-5.2 (Max)
Which is better for the money: Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) 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 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GLM-5.2 (Max) scores 24.8 points higher (33.7 vs 8.9) but costs 143× as much to run the benchmark ($2097 vs $14.7; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GLM-5.2 (Max) when you need intelligence above 8.9, and Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) when 8.9 is enough.
| Metric | Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning) | GLM-5.2 (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 8.9 | 33.7 | +278.7% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 3.8× more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $14.68 | $2,097.29 | +14186.7% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 143× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 57.75s | 30.10s | −47.9% GLM-5.2 (Max) is 47.9% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.02 / $0.10 | $1.40 / $4.40 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image, Speech, Video | Text |
GLM-5.2 (Max) vs Gemma 4 E4B (Reasoning): 278.7% more intelligence, 14186.7% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 47.9% faster 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-5.2 (Max) 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-5.2 (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/gemma-4-e4b/glm-5-2 · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/gemma-4-e4b/glm-5-2?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill