GLM-5.3 (Low) vs GPT-6 Astra (Max)
Which is better for the money: GLM-5.3 (Low) 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 2026-10-26.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GPT-6 Astra (Max) scores 18.4 points higher (52.7 vs 34.3) but costs 5.3× as much to run the benchmark ($5324 vs $1013; flagship vs premium cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GPT-6 Astra (Max) when you need intelligence above 34.3, and GLM-5.3 (Low) when 34.3 is enough.
| Metric | GLM-5.3 (Low) | GPT-6 Astra (Max) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.3 | 52.7 | +53.6% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 53.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,012.50 | $5,324.10 | +425.8% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 5.3× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 31.49s | 280.51s | +790.8% GPT-6 Astra (Max) is 790.8% slower |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.40 / $4.40 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Max) vs GLM-5.3 (Low): 53.6% more intelligence, 425.8% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 790.8% slower end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GLM-5.3 (Low) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6.1 Sol (Xhigh) scores 51.00 for $662.
- 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 (Low)GPT-6 Astra (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/glm-5-3-low/gpt-6-astra · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/glm-5-3-low/gpt-6-astra?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill