GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) by Z AI or Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-26.
Clear winner
Verdict
Pick GLM-5.1 (Reasoning)
Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) vs GLM-5.1 (Reasoning): 22.6% less intelligence, 36.0% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 76.4% faster end-to-end.
| Metric | GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) | Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 26.1 | 20.2 | −22.6% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 22.6% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,486.78 | $2,022.49 | +36.0% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 36.0% more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 59.15s | 13.95s | −76.4% Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reas… is 76.4% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.28 / $4.07 | $0.50 / $3.00 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image, Video |
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
- Qwen3.8 27B (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Max) scores 51.80 for $1082.
GLM-5.1 (Reasoning)Qwen3.8 27B (Non-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/glm-5-1/qwen3-8-27b-non-reasoning · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/glm-5-1/qwen3-8-27b-non-reasoning?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill