Model comparison
GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3.5-9B
GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.6 to 33.3 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5-9B costs 19× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 8 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 8 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3 scores higher in 5 categories and Qwen3.5-9B in 0 categories; 5 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in math, where GLM-5.3 leads 62.1 to 33.5.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is SciCode: 59% for GLM-5.3 and 27.5% for Qwen3.5-9B.
- Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.15 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 | Qwen3.5-9B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Z.ai (Zhipu) | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 54.6 | 33.3 |
| Released | 2026-08-14 | 2026-02-23 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Max output | 131K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1.40 | $0.10 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $4.40 | $0.15 |
| Results tracked | 41 | 10 |
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Category by category
Coding GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 59.0 (#12), Qwen3.5-9B: 35.3 (#213)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 59% | 27.5% |
| DeepSWE | 69% | — |
| FrontierCode | 40.1% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1623 | — |
| FrontierSWE | 30.2% | — |
| WeirdML | 75.4% | — |
| LMArena Coding | 1499 | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,317 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 36.3 (#34), Qwen3.5-9B: 14.4 (#143)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | — | 9.2% |
| APEX-Agents | 56.6% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 8,164 | — |
Reasoning GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 45.2 (#42), Qwen3.5-9B: 22.5 (#178)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 19.1% | 0.3% |
| Chess Puzzles | 21% | 12% |
| DTBench | 87.7% | 71.2% |
| LMCA | 55.5% | 24.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 155.56 | 139.45 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 74.2% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1491 | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 33% | — |
| Bench to the Future 3 | 0.15 | — |
Math GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 62.1 (#27), Qwen3.5-9B: 33.5 (#174)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 91.1% | 61.7% |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 68.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 29.3% | — |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 48.5% |
| ProofBench | 49% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1493 | — |
Knowledge GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#34), Qwen3.5-9B: 46.0 (#77)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 90.9% | 79% |
| SimpleQA Verified | 41% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1512 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 55.9 (#27), Qwen3.5-9B: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1457 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1523 | — |
| LMArena French | 1499 | — |
| LMArena German | 1505 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1438 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1478 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1460 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1444 | — |
Instruction Following Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 77.8 (#15), Qwen3.5-9B: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1481 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 45.5 (#32), Qwen3.5-9B: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1485 | — |
Writing & Preference Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 75.9 (#6), Qwen3.5-9B: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5-9B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1473 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1459 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 2075 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1473 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is GLM-5.3 better than Qwen3.5-9B?
GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.6 to 33.3 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5-9B costs 19× 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 Qwen3.5-9B?
Qwen3.5-9B is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.15 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.
Is GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.5-9B better for coding?
GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.0 versus 35.3 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 Qwen3.5-9B share?
8 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 41 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5-9B has 10.