GLM-5.3 (Max) vs Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)
Which is better for the money: GLM-5.3 (Max) by Z AI or Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) by SpaceXAI? 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
GLM-5.3 (Max) scores 30.8 points higher (44.8 vs 14.0) but costs 10.0× as much to run the benchmark ($2503 vs $250; flagship vs mid-range cost classes). They are not alternatives at one budget: pick GLM-5.3 (Max) when you need intelligence above 14.0, and Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) when 14.0 is enough.
| Metric | GLM-5.3 (Max) | Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intelligence (higher is better) | 44.8 | 14.0 | −68.8% Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoni… is 68.8% less intelligent |
| Total AA cost (lower is better) | $2,503.48 | $250.37 | −90.0% Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoni… is 90.0% cheaper |
| End-to-end time (lower is better) | 28.28s | 5.89s | −79.2% Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoni… is 79.2% faster |
| Price per 1M tokens (in / out) | $1.40 / $4.40 | $1.25 / $2.50 | |
| Input modalities | Text | Text, Image |
Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) vs GLM-5.3 (Max): 68.8% less intelligence, 90.0% less cost to run the AA benchmark, and 79.2% 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.
- Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning) is off the frontier: at the same or lower cost, MiMo-V2.6-Pro scores 46.30 for $207.
GLM-5.3 (Max)Grok 4.3 (Non-reasoning)Today's Pareto frontierOpen-weights frontierEvery other model
Matchup
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