Noometry

Model comparison

GLM-5.3-Flash vs Step 5 Preview

GLM-5.3-Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 51.8 to 47.9 on the Noometry Index.

Last verified . 18 shared benchmarks.

GLM-5.3-Flash Z.ai (Zhipu)

51.8

Rank #41 Confirmed

Step 5 Preview StepFun

47.9

Rank #58 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 18 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3-Flash scores higher in 9 categories and Step 5 Preview in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in knowledge, where GLM-5.3-Flash leads 58.4 to 41.2.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is ProofBench: 21% for GLM-5.3-Flash and 42% for Step 5 Preview.
  • GLM-5.3-Flash is cheaper at $0.15 / $0.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $2.70 for Step 5 Preview.
  • Step 5 Preview accepts more context: 1.02M tokens versus 1M.
  • GLM-5.3-Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

GLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
ProviderZ.ai (Zhipu)StepFun
Noometry Index51.847.9
Released2026-08-202026-09-16
WeightsOpenProprietary
Context window1M1.02M
Max output131K66K
Input $ / M tokens$0.15$1
Output $ / M tokens$0.50$2.70
Results tracked4018

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Category by category

Coding GLM-5.3-Flash leads

GLM-5.3-Flash: 53.1 (#31), Step 5 Preview: 51.8 (#36)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
LMArena WebDev16091564
SciCode51.6%58.9%
LMArena Coding15081480
DeepSWE63.4%—
FrontierCode31.8%—
CursorBench36.8%—
FrontierSWE18.1%—
ALE-Bench303.55—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

GLM-5.3-Flash: 34.2 (#47), Step 5 Preview: —

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
APEX-Agents52.8%—
GDP.pdf14%—

Reasoning GLM-5.3-Flash leads

GLM-5.3-Flash: 48.0 (#42), Step 5 Preview: 40.0 (#57)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
CritPt15.4%20.9%
LMArena Hard Prompts14911465
ARC-AGI-265.8%—
ARC-AGI-191%—
Chess Puzzles14%—
Mystery Game Puzzles8%—
Surface Evolver Bench52.5%—
Bench to the Future 30.15—
Epoch Capabilities Index151.88—

Math GLM-5.3-Flash leads

GLM-5.3-Flash: 53.3 (#47), Step 5 Preview: 46.1 (#72)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
ProofBench21%42%
LMArena Math15001470
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)55.8%—
FrontierMath Tier 417.1%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202593.9%—

Knowledge GLM-5.3-Flash leads

GLM-5.3-Flash: 58.4 (#36), Step 5 Preview: 41.2 (#112)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
LMArena Expert15131470
GPQA Diamond90.2%—

Multimodal GLM-5.3-Flash leads

GLM-5.3-Flash: 42.8 (#27), Step 5 Preview: 41.0 (#41)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
LMArena Vision12961267

Multilingual GLM-5.3-Flash leads

GLM-5.3-Flash: 56.0 (#25), Step 5 Preview: 53.8 (#54)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
LMArena Non-English14621432
LMArena Chinese15271519
LMArena Russian14691436
LMArena Spanish14711439
LMArena French1496—
LMArena German1470—
LMArena Japanese1429—
LMArena Korean1446—

Instruction Following GLM-5.3-Flash leads

GLM-5.3-Flash: 77.5 (#20), Step 5 Preview: 76.0 (#50)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
LMArena Instruction Following14781444

Long Context Too close to call

GLM-5.3-Flash: 45.4 (#39), Step 5 Preview: 44.5 (#64)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
LMArena Longer Query14821455

Writing & Preference GLM-5.3-Flash leads

GLM-5.3-Flash: 65.3 (#50), Step 5 Preview: 62.8 (#71)

BenchmarkGLM-5.3-FlashStep 5 Preview
LMArena Text14711442
LMArena Creative Writing14421410
LMArena Multi-Turn14671447

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM-5.3-Flash better than Step 5 Preview?

GLM-5.3-Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 51.8 to 47.9 on the Noometry Index.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3-Flash or Step 5 Preview?

GLM-5.3-Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens; Step 5 Preview lists at $1 and $2.70.

Is GLM-5.3-Flash or Step 5 Preview better for coding?

GLM-5.3-Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 53.1 versus 51.8 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

Step 5 Preview does, with 1.02M tokens against 1M.

How many benchmarks do GLM-5.3-Flash and Step 5 Preview share?

18 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3-Flash has 40 scored results on Noometry and Step 5 Preview has 18.

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