GLM-5.3 (Max) vs GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium)
Which is better for the money: GLM-5.3 (Max) by Z AI or GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) by OpenAI? Intelligence, total benchmark cost, and end-to-end time from Artificial Analysis & other sources, snapshot 2026-10-24.
Trade-off
Verdict
Depends on your budget
GLM-5.3 (Max) scores 19.8 points higher (44.8 vs 25.0) but costs 56× as much to run the benchmark ($2503 vs $44.3; flagship vs budget cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GLM-5.3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 25.0, and GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) when 25.0 is enough.
| Metric | GLM-5.3 (Max) | GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 44.8 | 25.0 | −44.2% GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) is 44.2% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,503.48 | $44.32 | −98.2% GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) is 98.2% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 31.61s | 5.82s | −81.6% GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) is 81.6% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.40 / $4.40 | $0.20 / $1.20 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) vs GLM-5.3 (Max): 44.2% less intelligence, 98.2% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 81.6% faster end-to-end.
Today's Pareto frontier
Against the frontier
- GLM-5.3 (Max) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, Claude Opus 5.5 (High, Default Fallback) scores 53.60 for $2172.
- GPT-5.6 Luna (Medium) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, GPT-6 Luna (Medium) scores 29.90 for $31.2.
GLM-5.3 (Max)GPT-5.6 Luna (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/gpt-5-6-luna-medium · Markdown: /api/v1/compare/glm-5-3/gpt-5-6-luna-medium?format=md · llms.txt · agent skill