GLM-5.3-Flash vs GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GLM-5.3-Flash by Z AI or GPT-6 Astra (Max) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-25.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-6 Astra (Max) scores 10.9 points higher (52.7 vs 41.8) but costs 17× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $306; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when you need intelligence above 41.8, and GLM-5.3-Flash when 41.8 is enough.
| Metric | GLM-5.3-Flash | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 41.8 | 52.7 | +26.1% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 26.1% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $305.52 | $5,324.10 | +1642.6% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 17× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 38.43s | 285.78s | +643.6% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 643.6% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $0.15 / $0.50 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs GLM-5.3-Flash: 26.1% more intelligence, 1642.6% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 643.6% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GLM-5.3-Flash is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
- GPT-6 Astra (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (Xhigh, Default Fallback) scores 56.00 for $4057.
GLM-5.3-FlashGPT-6 Astra (Max)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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