GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) vs Qwen3 Coder Next
Which is better for the money: GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) by Z AI or Qwen3 Coder Next by Alibaba? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-09-10.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) scores 16.3 points higher (26.4 vs 10.1) but costs 3.0× as much to run the benchmark ($1418 vs $476; premium vs mid-range cost classes). Pick GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise Qwen3 Coder Next.
| Metric | GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) | Qwen3 Coder Next | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 26.4 | 10.1 | −61.7% Qwen3 Coder Next is 61.7% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,418.32 | $476.03 | −66.4% Qwen3 Coder Next is 66.4% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 67.81s | 5.99s | −91.2% Qwen3 Coder Next is 91.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.20 / $4.40 | $0.35 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Not reported | Not reported |
Qwen3 Coder Next vs GLM-5.1 (Reasoning): 61.7% less intelligence, 66.4% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 91.2% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GLM-5.1 (Reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 41.90 for $280.
- Qwen3 Coder Next is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GLM-5.3-Flash scores 41.90 for $280.
GLM-5.1 (Reasoning)Qwen3 Coder NextToday's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
Compare something else
Agents:
Accept: text/markdown or ?format=md returns this page as Markdown. JSON: /api/v1/compare/glm-5-1/qwen3-coder-next · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/glm-5-1/qwen3-coder-next?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill