Model comparison

GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3.5 27B

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.6 to 41.4 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5 27B costs 2.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 24 shared benchmarks.

GLM-5.3 Z.ai (Zhipu)

54.6

Rank #25 Confirmed

Qwen3.5 27B Alibaba (Qwen)

41.4

Rank #127 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 24 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3 scores higher in 8 categories and Qwen3.5 27B in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where GLM-5.3 leads 62.1 to 36.8.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is WeirdML: 75.4% for GLM-5.3 and 39.5% for Qwen3.5 27B.
  • Qwen3.5 27B is cheaper at $0.30 / $2.40 per million input/output tokens, against $1.40 / $4.40 for GLM-5.3.
  • GLM-5.3 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 262K.

Side by side

GLM-5.3 and Qwen3.5 27B specifications
GLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
ProviderZ.ai (Zhipu)Alibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index54.641.4
Released2026-08-142026-02-23
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window1M262K
Max output131K66K
Input $ / M tokens$1.40$0.30
Output $ / M tokens$4.40$2.40
Results tracked4128

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Category by category

Coding GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 59.0 (#12), Qwen3.5 27B: 38.6 (#159)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
LMArena WebDev16231357
WeirdML75.4%39.5%
LMArena Coding14991427
ALE-Bench1,317349.45
DeepSWE69%—
FrontierCode40.1%—
FrontierSWE30.2%—
SciCode59%—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

GLM-5.3: 36.3 (#34), Qwen3.5 27B: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
Vending-Bench 28,164201.98
APEX-Agents56.6%—

Reasoning GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 45.2 (#42), Qwen3.5 27B: 26.6 (#116)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
NYT Connections (extended)74.2%47.9%
LMArena Hard Prompts14911414
DTBench87.7%82.4%
LMCA55.5%34%
CritPt19.1%—
Chess Puzzles21%—
Thematic Generalization—45.5%
Mystery Game Puzzles33%—
Bench to the Future 30.15—
Epoch Capabilities Index155.56—

Math GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 62.1 (#27), Qwen3.5 27B: 36.8 (#103)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
LMArena Math14931428
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)68.8%—
FrontierMath Tier 429.3%—
MathArena Final-Answer Competitions—56.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202591.1%—
ProofBench49%—

Knowledge GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#34), Qwen3.5 27B: 37.4 (#149)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
LMArena Expert15121428
GPQA Diamond90.9%—
SimpleQA Verified41%—
Vectara Hallucination Rate—12.1%

Multimodal Not comparable

GLM-5.3: —, Qwen3.5 27B: 38.7 (#56)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
LMArena Vision—1240

Multilingual GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 55.9 (#27), Qwen3.5 27B: 51.0 (#112)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
LMArena Non-English14571390
LMArena Chinese15231478
LMArena French14991409
LMArena German15051393
LMArena Japanese14381345
LMArena Korean14781359
LMArena Russian14601389
LMArena Spanish14441408

Instruction Following GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 77.8 (#15), Qwen3.5 27B: 73.7 (#114)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
LMArena Instruction Following14811393

Long Context GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 45.5 (#32), Qwen3.5 27B: 43.1 (#103)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
LMArena Longer Query14851413

Writing & Preference GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 75.9 (#6), Qwen3.5 27B: 59.5 (#106)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.5 27B
LMArena Text14731409
LMArena Creative Writing14591362
LMArena Multi-Turn14731410
EQ-Bench Creative Writing2075—

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM-5.3 better than Qwen3.5 27B?

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.6 to 41.4 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5 27B costs 2.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.5 27B?

Qwen3.5 27B is cheaper. It lists at $0.30 per million input tokens and $2.40 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.

Is GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.5 27B better for coding?

GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.0 versus 38.6 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

GLM-5.3 does, with 1M tokens against 262K.

How many benchmarks do GLM-5.3 and Qwen3.5 27B share?

24 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 41 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5 27B has 28.

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