GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3.8 Max: Specs & Benchmark Comparison
GLM-5.3 is developed by Zhipu AI, while Qwen3.8 Max comes from Alibaba. Both were released in August 2026. Qwen3.8 Max is the larger model at roughly 2.4 trillion parameters, against 753 billion for GLM-5.3.
The two models share 8 published benchmarks. GLM-5.3 leads on 7 of them, Qwen3.8 Max on 1. The widest gaps are on Agents' Last Exam, where Qwen3.8 Max scores 52.4% against 28.5%; AutomationBench, where GLM-5.3 scores 48.2% against 27.3%. Averaged across everything we track, GLM-5.3 sits at 52.2% and Qwen3.8 Max at 71.0%.
GLM-5.3 is the cheaper API at $1.40 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens, about 79% below Qwen3.8 Max at $2.50 and $6.25. Both accept a context window of about 1M tokens. GLM-5.3 accepts text as input, while Qwen3.8 Max accepts text and images.
| Characteristic | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.8 Max |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Zhipu AI | Alibaba |
| Release Date | August 14, 2026 | August 2, 2026 |
| Parameters | 753B | 2.4T |
| Multimodal | No | Yes |
| Context (input) | 1.0M | 1.0M |
| Context (output) | 131K | 131K |
| Input Price / 1M | $1.40 | $2.50 |
| Output Price / 1M | $4.40 | $6.25 |
| Average Score | 52.2% | 71.0% |
| Benchmarks | ||
| Agents' Last Exam | 28.5% | 52.4% |
| AutomationBench | 48.2% | 27.3% |
| Humanity's Last Exam | 62.5% | 43.6% |
| DeepSWE 1.1 | 66.9% | 56.6% |
| FrontierSWE | 78.0% | 73.5% |
| NL2Repo | 58.0% | 55.9% |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 88.0% | 86.6% |
| Toolathlon | 73.0% | 72.5% |
Visual Benchmark Comparison
Verdict
GLM-5.3 leads in 2 out of 4 comparison categories.
Both models show comparable average scores: GLM-5.3 — 0.5, Qwen3.8 Max — 0.7.
GLM-5.3 is 1.5x cheaper: input $1.40/1M vs $2.50/1M tokens.
GLM-5.3 supports a larger context: 1M vs 1M tokens.
Both models were released around the same time: 8/14/2026 and 8/2/2026.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better for coding — GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.8 Max?
Which model is cheaper — GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.8 Max?
Which has a larger context window — GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.8 Max?
The GLM-5.3 and Qwen3.8 Max 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 Qwen3.8 Max page. See also the complete list of AI model comparisons.