Model comparison

GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3.8 27B

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.6 to 45.3 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.8 27B costs 1.9× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 26 shared benchmarks.

GLM-5.3 Z.ai (Zhipu)

54.6

Rank #25 Confirmed

Qwen3.8 27B Alibaba (Qwen)

45.3

Rank #64 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 26 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3 scores higher in 8 categories and Qwen3.8 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 35.7.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is ProofBench: 49% for GLM-5.3 and 16% for Qwen3.8 27B.
  • Qwen3.8 27B is cheaper at $0.99 / $1.49 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 Qwen3.8 27B specifications
GLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
ProviderZ.ai (Zhipu)Alibaba (Qwen)
Noometry Index54.645.3
Released2026-08-142026-08-14
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window1M262K
Max output131K33K
Input $ / M tokens$1.40$0.99
Output $ / M tokens$4.40$1.49
Results tracked4128

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Category by category

Coding GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 59.0 (#12), Qwen3.8 27B: 50.3 (#42)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
LMArena WebDev16231592
SciCode59%46.6%
LMArena Coding14991487
DeepSWE69%—
FrontierCode40.1%—
FrontierSWE30.2%—
WeirdML75.4%—
ALE-Bench1,317—

Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable

GLM-5.3: 36.3 (#34), Qwen3.8 27B: —

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
APEX-Agents56.6%—
Vending-Bench 28,164—

Reasoning GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 45.2 (#42), Qwen3.8 27B: 31.5 (#71)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
NYT Connections (extended)74.2%54.5%
CritPt19.1%5.4%
LMArena Hard Prompts14911459
DTBench87.7%88%
LMCA55.5%41.4%
Epoch Capabilities Index155.56149.38
Chess Puzzles21%—
Mystery Game Puzzles33%—
Surface Evolver Bench—45%
Bench to the Future 30.15—

Math GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 62.1 (#27), Qwen3.8 27B: 35.7 (#139)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
ProofBench49%16%
LMArena Math14931453
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)68.8%—
FrontierMath Tier 429.3%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202591.1%—

Knowledge GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#34), Qwen3.8 27B: 40.9 (#105)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
LMArena Expert15121482
GPQA Diamond90.9%—
SimpleQA Verified41%—

Multimodal Not comparable

GLM-5.3: —, Qwen3.8 27B: 40.5 (#36)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
LMArena Vision—1270

Multilingual GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 55.9 (#27), Qwen3.8 27B: 54.0 (#54)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
LMArena Non-English14571431
LMArena Chinese15231504
LMArena French14991468
LMArena German15051435
LMArena Japanese14381392
LMArena Korean14781389
LMArena Russian14601421
LMArena Spanish14441444

Instruction Following GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 77.8 (#15), Qwen3.8 27B: 75.8 (#54)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
LMArena Instruction Following14811436

Long Context GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 45.5 (#32), Qwen3.8 27B: 44.3 (#66)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
LMArena Longer Query14851448

Writing & Preference GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 75.9 (#6), Qwen3.8 27B: 65.9 (#41)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3.8 27B
LMArena Text14731441
LMArena Creative Writing14591382
EQ-Bench Creative Writing20751671
LMArena Multi-Turn14731443

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM-5.3 better than Qwen3.8 27B?

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.6 to 45.3 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.8 27B costs 1.9× 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 Qwen3.8 27B?

Qwen3.8 27B is cheaper. It lists at $0.99 per million input tokens and $1.49 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.

Is GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.8 27B better for coding?

GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.0 versus 50.3 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 Qwen3.8 27B share?

26 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 41 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.8 27B has 28.

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