# GLM-5.3 vs gpt-oss-20b

> GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 32.5 on the Noometry Index. gpt-oss-20b costs 60× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/glm-5-3-vs-gpt-oss-20b
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 27

## Summary

- They share 27 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3 scores higher in 9 categories and gpt-oss-20b in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where GLM-5.3 leads 75.7 to 35.5.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is LMCA: 55.5% for GLM-5.3 and 14.5% for gpt-oss-20b.
- gpt-oss-20b is cheaper at $0.018 / $0.09 per million input/output tokens, against $1.40 / $4.40 for GLM-5.3.
- GLM-5.3 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.

## Snapshot

| | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Z.ai (Zhipu) | OpenAI |
| Noometry Index | 54.8 | 32.5 |
| Rank | 26 | 255 |
| Context | 1M | 131K |
| Input $/M | $1.40 | $0.018 |
| Output $/M | $4.40 | $0.09 |
| Weights | Open | Open |

## Coding

- GLM-5.3: 59.5 (#14)
- gpt-oss-20b: 37.6 (#192)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| SciCode | 59% | 34.4% |
| WeirdML | 75.4% | 40.9% |
| LMArena Coding | 1496 | 1306 |
| ALE-Bench | 1,317 | 566.05 |
| DeepSWE | 69% | — |
| FrontierCode | 40.1% | — |
| CursorBench | 42.6% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1622 | — |
| FrontierSWE | 30.2% | — |

## Agentic & Tool Use

- GLM-5.3: 36.4 (#38)
- gpt-oss-20b: 9.3 (#154)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench | — | 3.4% |
| APEX-Agents | 56.6% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 8,164 | — |

## Reasoning

- GLM-5.3: 46.1 (#46)
- gpt-oss-20b: 19.3 (#261)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 19.1% | 1.4% |
| Chess Puzzles | 21% | 4% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1489 | 1274 |
| DTBench | 87.7% | 68% |
| LMCA | 55.5% | 14.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 155.61 | 137.82 |
| Kagi LLM Benchmark | — | 53.2% |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 74.2% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 33% | — |
| Bench to the Future 3 | 0.15 | — |

## Math

- GLM-5.3: 62.3 (#33)
- gpt-oss-20b: 39.4 (#103)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 91.1% | 65.3% |
| LMArena Math | 1489 | 1317 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 68.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 29.3% | — |
| ProofBench | 49% | — |
| Omni-MATH | — | 56.5% |

## Knowledge

- GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#37)
- gpt-oss-20b: 34.6 (#195)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 90.9% | 60.8% |
| LMArena Expert | 1516 | 1258 |
| SimpleQA Verified | 41% | — |
| MMLU-Pro | — | 74% |
| GPQA (HELM) | — | 59.4% |

## Multilingual

- GLM-5.3: 55.7 (#28)
- gpt-oss-20b: 42.2 (#197)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1457 | 1268 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1528 | 1314 |
| LMArena German | 1499 | 1255 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1453 | 1244 |
| LMArena Korean | 1472 | 1236 |
| LMArena Russian | 1463 | 1278 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1460 | 1267 |
| LMArena French | 1499 | — |

## Instruction Following

- GLM-5.3: 77.5 (#23)
- gpt-oss-20b: 61.8 (#240)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1477 | 1236 |
| IFEval | — | 73.2% |

## Long Context

- GLM-5.3: 45.4 (#41)
- gpt-oss-20b: 37.9 (#209)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1482 | 1250 |

## Writing & Preference

- GLM-5.3: 75.7 (#6)
- gpt-oss-20b: 35.5 (#265)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | gpt-oss-20b |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1471 | 1287 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1457 | 1201 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 2075 | 666 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1472 | 1268 |
| WildBench | — | 73.7% |

## FAQ

### Is GLM-5.3 better than gpt-oss-20b?

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 32.5 on the Noometry Index. gpt-oss-20b costs 60× 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 gpt-oss-20b?

gpt-oss-20b is cheaper. It lists at $0.018 per million input tokens and $0.09 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.

### Is GLM-5.3 or gpt-oss-20b better for coding?

GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.5 versus 37.6 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

GLM-5.3 does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

### How many benchmarks do GLM-5.3 and gpt-oss-20b share?

27 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 42 scored results on Noometry and gpt-oss-20b has 34.