GLM-5.3-Flash
GLM-5.3-Flash is a chat model from Z AI, positioned in the GLM line's "Flash" tier for latency- and cost-sensitive workloads.
API Pricing
Cheapest on OpenRelay — 65% below avg| Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Cached / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| $0.045 | $0.450 | $0.0090 | |
| $0.060 | $0.200 | $0.012 | |
| $0.060 | $0.200 | $0.012 | |
| $0.075 | $0.250 | $0.075 | |
| $0.090 | $0.300 | $0.018 | |
| $0.110 | $0.400 | - | |
| $0.140 | $0.745 | $0.070 | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | $0.030 | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | $0.030 | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | - | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | $0.030 | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | - | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | - | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | $0.030 | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | $0.030 | |
| $0.150 | $0.500 | $0.030 | |
| $0.200 | $0.500 | $0.050 | |
| $0.200 | $0.600 | $0.037 |
Prices updated daily. Last check: Oct 12, 2026
Compare API pricing for every GLM model →GLM-5.3-Flash pricing by provider
Input, output, and batch rates, plus alternatives, for one provider at a time.
Performance & Benchmarks
Source: Artificial Analysis →Reasoning & Knowledge
- GPQA Diamond91.2%
- Humanity's Last Exam39.9%
Coding
- SciCode51.6%
Agentic & Tool Use
- Terminal-Bench v2.184.3%
- τ-bench Banking47.2%
Instruction & Long Context
- Long-Context Reasoning80.0%
Benchmarks measured Oct 2026. Scores are independent evaluations, not vendor-reported.
Model Details
General
- Creator
- Z AI
- Modalities
- Text
Capabilities
- Open Source
- Yes
Strengths & Limitations
Strengths
- Positioned in the GLM "Flash" tier, which Z AI uses for lower-cost, lower-latency serving rather than maximum-capability workloads
- Independently measured throughput of approximately 49 output tokens per second (Artificial Analysis)
- Time to first token of roughly 1,180 ms supports streaming chat interfaces
- Part of the GLM 5.3 generation, so it can be paired with larger same-generation models in a routing or fallback setup
- Suited to high-request-volume text pipelines where per-request cost dominates total spend
- Available through multiple hosted API providers, letting buyers compare price and measured speed side by side
Limitations
- We do not have a confirmed context window for this model — verify limits with your serving provider before building long-document workflows
- No standardized reasoning, coding, or multilingual benchmark scores are tracked in our database for this entry
- Time to first token near 1,180 ms is slower than the quickest-responding endpoints, which matters for latency-critical voice or autocomplete use
- Flash-tier models generally trade capability for cost, so complex multi-step reasoning may be better served by larger GLM 5.3 models
- Measured throughput of ~49 tokens/second is mid-range; long-form generation will feel slower than on high-throughput serving stacks
Key Features
About GLM-5.3-Flash
Common Use Cases
GLM-5.3-Flash fits workloads that send many text requests and care about per-request cost: chat assistants and support bots, summarization of tickets or documents, classification and tagging, structured data extraction, content rewriting, and drafting steps inside a larger pipeline. Its measured ~49 tokens/second output rate and just-over-one-second time to first token are adequate for streaming chat UIs where users see partial output immediately. A common pattern with Flash-tier models is tiered routing — handle the bulk of straightforward requests here and escalate harder prompts to a larger GLM 5.3 model. For tasks that hinge on deep multi-step reasoning, long-context document analysis, or verified benchmark thresholds, confirm capabilities with the provider first, since we do not track context length or task benchmarks for this entry.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does GLM-5.3-Flash cost?
Pricing depends on which provider hosts the model and on the pricing type — input tokens, output tokens, and any cached-input or batch rates are billed separately, and rates change frequently. Check the pricing table on this page for current per-provider figures rather than relying on a fixed number.
What is GLM-5.3-Flash best used for?
High-volume text work where cost and responsiveness matter more than maximum capability: chat assistants, summarization, classification, extraction, and drafting steps in automated pipelines. It is also a reasonable default tier in a routing setup that escalates harder prompts to a larger GLM 5.3 model.
How fast is GLM-5.3-Flash?
Artificial Analysis measured roughly 49 output tokens per second with a time to first token of about 1,180 ms. Real-world numbers vary by provider, region, prompt length, and load, so compare providers if latency is a hard requirement.
How does GLM-5.3-Flash differ from larger GLM 5.3 models?
Flash-tier GLM models are built for cheaper, faster serving, while the larger models in the same generation target harder reasoning and agentic tasks. If your prompts involve long multi-step reasoning or complex tool orchestration, evaluate a larger sibling alongside Flash before committing.
What is the context window of GLM-5.3-Flash?
We do not have a confirmed context window for this model in our database. Check the documentation of the provider you plan to use, since hosted endpoints can also impose their own maximum input and output limits.