GLM-5.3 vs Inkling-Small: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
GLM-5.3 is developed by Zhipu AI, while Inkling-Small comes from Thinking Machines Lab. Inkling-Small was released in July 2026, and GLM-5.3 followed a month later in August 2026. GLM-5.3 is the larger model at roughly 753 billion parameters, against 276 billion for Inkling-Small.
We have 3 benchmark results for GLM-5.3 and 24 benchmark results for Inkling-Small, but they overlap on a single test: Terminal-Bench 2.1, where GLM-5.3 scores 88.0% against 64.7%.
Inkling-Small is the cheaper API at $0.30 per million input tokens and $1.20 per million output tokens, roughly 5 times cheaper than GLM-5.3 at $1.40 and $4.40. GLM-5.3 takes the larger context window at 1M tokens, compared with 256K for Inkling-Small. GLM-5.3 accepts text as input, while Inkling-Small accepts text, images, and audio. On tooling, only GLM-5.3 supports function calling and only GLM-5.3 offers structured output.
| Characteristic | GLM-5.3 | Inkling-Small |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Zhipu AI | Thinking Machines Lab |
| Release Date | August 14, 2026 | July 30, 2026 |
| Parameters | 753B | 276B |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 256K |
| Context (output) | 131K | 256K |
| Input Price / 1M | $1.40 | $0.30 |
| Output Price / 1M | $4.40 | $1.20 |
| Average Score | 83.3% | 60.3% |
| Benchmarks | ||
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 88.0% | 64.7% |
Visual Benchmark Comparison
Verdict
GLM-5.3 leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: GLM-5.3 — 0.8, Inkling-Small — 0.6.
Inkling-Small is 3.9x cheaper: input $0.30/1M vs $1.40/1M tokens.
GLM-5.3 supports a larger context: 1M vs 256K tokens.
GLM-5.3 is newer: released 8/14/2026 vs 7/30/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — GLM-5.3 or Inkling-Small?
Which model is cheaper — GLM-5.3 or Inkling-Small?
Which has a larger context window — GLM-5.3 or Inkling-Small?
The GLM-5.3 and Inkling-Small comparison is updated for 2026. Data includes benchmark results, API pricing, context window size and other specifications. For more detailed information, visit the GLM-5.3 or Inkling-Small page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.