Head-to-head
GLM-5.3 vs GLM-5
A 0.4-point composite gap — but the real story is the dimension mix. Same weights, unpacked: who leads where, and whether the premium is justified.
The short answer
The composites differ by 0.4 points, and their strengths do not overlap.
Stronger overall: effectively tied. If you only run one workload, read the dimension table instead.
Overlaid radar
Same weights, same scale; overlap means parity
- GLM-5.392.4
- GLM-592.0
Dimension deltas
A on the left, B on the right; 100 max per row
GLM-5.3 leads 2, GLM-5 leads 3, tied 3.
Spec sheet
Hard specs in one table
| Item | GLM-5.3 | GLM-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Composite | 92.4 | 92.0 |
| Tier | S | S |
| Visual perception & grounding | 93 | 93 |
| Document parsing & Chinese OCR | 94 | 95WIN |
| Chart & document reasoning | 91 | 92WIN |
| Video & long-horizon reasoning | 88 | 88 |
| GUI agents & tool use | 95WIN | 91 |
| Generation & editing | 85 | 89WIN |
| Chinese context & culture | 95 | 95 |
| Ecosystem, cost & availability | 97WIN | 92 |
| Output price | ¥9 / M | ¥10 / M |
| Context | 400K | 200K |
| Parameters | Undisclosed (MoE, full Ascend stack) | Undisclosed (MoE, trained on Ascend) |
| Licence | Commercial + on-prem licence (Ascend images included) | Commercial + on-prem license |
| Native multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Evidence grade | B | A |
How to choose
Choose GLM-5.3 if…
- Domestic-chip and public-sector on-prem projects
- Complex agent workflows and tool orchestration
- Chinese official documents, policy and research reports
- You cannot accept its limitation: No dimension is outright #1, so pure capability contests go to Qwen3.8-Max and Doubao.
How to choose
Choose GLM-5 if…
- Government/enterprise on-prem and Xinchuang
- Chinese official documents and research reports
- Complex agent workflows
- You cannot accept its limitation: Video temporal reasoning trails the leaders by about half a generation.
Scenario check
Five scenarios, who holds up
| Scenario | GLM-5.3 | GLM-5 | Better |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese receipt OCR | 94 | 95 | GLM-5 |
| Chart data extraction | 90 | 91 | GLM-5 |
| 30-min video QA | 88 | 86 | GLM-5.3 |
| Mobile GUI control | 95 | 90 | GLM-5.3 |
| Chinese cultural context | 95 | 95 | Tie |
Comparison FAQ
GLM-5.3 vs GLM-5: which is stronger?
Composite: GLM-5.3 92.4, GLM-5 92.0. GLM-5.3 leads on GUI agents & tool use, Ecosystem, cost & availability; GLM-5 leads on Document parsing & Chinese OCR, Chart & document reasoning, Generation & editing. The stronger overall is effectively tied.
How much more expensive is GLM-5.3 than GLM-5?
GLM-5.3 is ¥9/1M output tokens; GLM-5 is ¥10/1M. On output price, GLM-5 is pricier; real cost also depends on image tokens and input share.
Can GLM-5 replace GLM-5.3?
It depends on your primary workload. If it sits in GLM-5’s strengths (Government/enterprise on-prem and Xinchuang, Chinese official documents and research reports, Complex agent workflows), yes. If you need Domestic-chip and public-sector on-prem projects, switching will cost quality.
Personal ranking · Not an official score
Every ranking, score and comparison on this page is an independent personal ranking, not an official score, and represents no vendor, institution or regulator. Scores are a subjective mapping of public evidence under our own weights — change the weights and the order changes. Disagree, or spotted a factual error? Contact the site owner: jizhi2024@foxmail.com — we check each report and log corrections in the changelog.