GLM-5.3 (Low) vs GPT-6 Astra (Medium)
Which is better for the money: GLM-5.3 (Low) by Z AI or GPT-6 Astra (Medium) 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 (Medium) scores 15.3 points higher (49.6 vs 34.3) but costs 2.4× as much to run the benchmark ($2434 vs $1013; flagship vs premium cost classes). Pick GPT-6 Astra (Medium) when the extra intelligence is worth the premium, otherwise GLM-5.3 (Low).
| Metric | GLM-5.3 (Low) | GPT-6 Astra (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 34.3 | 49.6 | +44.6% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 44.6% more intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $1,012.50 | $2,434.12 | +140.4% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 2.4× more expensive |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 31.40s | 13.89s | −55.8% GPT-6 Astra (Medium) is 55.8% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.40 / $4.40 | $10.0 / $50.0 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
GPT-6 Astra (Medium) vs GLM-5.3 (Low): 44.6% more intelligence, 140.4% more cost to run the AA benchmark, and 55.8% faster 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 (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
GLM-5.3 (Low)GPT-6 Astra (Medium)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-medium · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/glm-5-3-low/gpt-6-astra-medium?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill