Gemini 3.6 Flash vs GLM-5.3 Flash: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
Gemini 3.6 Flash is developed by Google, while GLM-5.3 Flash comes from Zhipu AI. Gemini 3.6 Flash was released in July 2026, and GLM-5.3 Flash followed a month later in August 2026. GLM-5.3 Flash has a published size of about 320 billion parameters; Google has not disclosed the parameter count of Gemini 3.6 Flash.
The two models share 3 published benchmarks. GLM-5.3 Flash leads on 3 of them. The widest gaps are on DeepSWE 1.1, where GLM-5.3 Flash scores 63.4% against 49.0%; Terminal-Bench 2.1, where GLM-5.3 Flash scores 84.3% against 78.0%. Averaged across everything we track, Gemini 3.6 Flash sits at 68.0% and GLM-5.3 Flash at 64.1%.
GLM-5.3 Flash is the cheaper API at $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens, roughly 10 times cheaper than Gemini 3.6 Flash at $1.50 and $7.50. Both accept a context window of about 1M tokens. Gemini 3.6 Flash accepts text and images as input, while GLM-5.3 Flash accepts text, images, and video.
| Characteristic | Gemini 3.6 Flash | GLM-5.3 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Zhipu AI | |
| Release Date | July 21, 2026 | August 26, 2026 |
| Parameters | — | 320B |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 1.0M |
| Context (output) | 66K | 131K |
| Input Price / 1M | $1.50 | $0.15 |
| Output Price / 1M | $7.50 | $0.50 |
| Average Score | 68.0% | 64.1% |
| Benchmarks | ||
| DeepSWE 1.1 | 49.0% | 63.4% |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 78.0% | 84.3% |
| CharXiv-R | 89.0% | 89.4% |
Visual Benchmark Comparison
Verdict
GLM-5.3 Flash leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: Gemini 3.6 Flash — 0.7, GLM-5.3 Flash — 0.6.
GLM-5.3 Flash is 13.8x cheaper: input $0.15/1M vs $1.50/1M tokens.
Same context size: 1M tokens.
GLM-5.3 Flash is newer: released 8/26/2026 vs 7/21/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3 Flash?
Which model is cheaper — Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3 Flash?
Which has a larger context window — Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3 Flash?
The Gemini 3.6 Flash and GLM-5.3 Flash comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the Gemini 3.6 Flash or GLM-5.3 Flash page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.