Compare / Qwen3-Max vs GLM-4.5

Qwen3-Max vs GLM-4.5

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 16 results on 3 sources that measured both models.

AlibabaQwen3-Max Released 24 Sep 2025 · $0.78 in · $3.90 out
Z.aiGLM-4.5 Released 3 Aug 2025 · $0.60 in · $2.20 out
Qwen3-Max wins 54 too close to callGLM-4.5 wins 7

Of the 16 results both models have, the better value on each. Results whose reported ranges overlap are too close to call.

Results as of 9 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-09-dd620e778ac5). See also Alibaba vs Z.ai, every model from both labs.

Qwen3-Max or GLM-4.5? The short answer

Pick Qwen3-Max if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 15.6 against 12.8). Pick GLM-4.5 if cost matters more: it costs 36% less per token.

  • GLM-4.5 is cheaper: $1.00 against $1.56 per million tokens, 36% less.
  • Qwen3-Max scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 15.6 against 12.8.
  • Qwen3-Max is newer: released 24 Sep 2025, against 3 Aug 2025 for GLM-4.5.
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: GLM-4.5 does better for reasoning and knowledge.

Head to head

15.6
Intelligence Index
12.8
$1.56
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$1.00
262,144
Context window, tokens
131,072

Every fact side by side

Qwen3-MaxGLM-4.5
Price per million tokens$0.78 in · $3.90 out$0.60 in · $2.20 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$1.56$1.00
Cheapest host, blended––
Intelligence Index15.612.8
Spring Prompt overall––
Output speed, tokens a second––
Context window262,144 tokens131,072 tokens
Released24 Sep 2025 (newer)3 Aug 2025
WeightsClosedOpen
Developer based inChinaChina

Prices are the developer's list price where we have read it, otherwise the typical host on OpenRouter; see every model's price. Intelligence and speed from Artificial Analysis.

Which is better for what

Each model's rank among the models on sale today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 154 of 164 not measured
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 121 of 198 120 of 198
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 99 of 188 76 of 188
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 50 of 152 not measured

Every shared result

Each model's best result on every measure both have, grouped by benchmark, with the setting that produced it. Under each measure, every model that benchmark has measured is a grey tick, best to the right, so you can see where the two sit in the field. The headline measures of each benchmark come first; the rest are under "Show all". Green marks the better value; where a source reports ranges that overlap, neither is marked.

MeasureQwen3-MaxGLM-4.5
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 108 · 125 of 387 measured 1,423 1,411
Business, management and finance · TextArena rating, higher is better 110 · 121 of 380 measured 1,419 1,412
Creative writing · TextArena rating, higher is better 105 · 130 of 385 measured 1,393 1,372
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 123 · 145 of 243 measured 15.6 12.8
GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 132 · 118 of 231 measured 76.4% 78.2%
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 140 · 134 of 242 measured 11.9% 13.0%
UGI Leaderboard reported by UGI Leaderboard · 3 results
Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 115 · 53 of 230 measured 38.6 57.3thinking reasoning
Requested-length error · UGI% off the requested word count, lower is better 134 · 57 of 230 measured 23.0% 13.0%no reasoning
Style adherence · UGIscore from 0 to 1, higher is better 155 · 73 of 230 measured 0.33 0.36thinking reasoning
Show all 16 results (7 more)
MeasureQwen3-MaxGLM-4.5
Arena (formerly LMArena) reported by Arena (formerly LMArena) · 3 results
Expert prompts · TextArena rating, higher is better 137 · 107 of 338 measured 1,417 1,444
Instruction following · TextArena rating, higher is better 106 · 117 of 387 measured 1,413 1,405
Writing, literature and language · TextArena rating, higher is better 101 · 132 of 386 measured 1,405 1,382
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results
IFBench% of instructions, higher is better 118 · 119 of 195 measured 44.2% 44.1%
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 154 · 150 of 233 measured 50.0% 52.7%
Terminal-Bench Hard% of tasks, higher is better 91 · 87 of 190 measured 20.5% 22.0%
τ²-bench telecom% of tasks, higher is better 79 · 112 of 193 measured 74.3% 43.0%

Quick answers

Is Qwen3-Max better than GLM-4.5?

Pick Qwen3-Max if quality matters most: it scores higher (Intelligence Index 15.6 against 12.8). Pick GLM-4.5 if cost matters more: it costs 36% less per token.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3-Max or GLM-4.5?

GLM-4.5 is cheaper: $1.00 against $1.56 per million tokens, 36% less.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, Qwen3-Max or GLM-4.5?

GLM-4.5 ranks 120 of 198 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 121 for Qwen3-Max.

Which is better for writing, Qwen3-Max or GLM-4.5?

GLM-4.5 ranks 76 of 188 models on sale for what people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality, against 99 for Qwen3-Max.

Which has the bigger context window, Qwen3-Max or GLM-4.5?

Qwen3-Max: 262,144 tokens, against 131,072 for GLM-4.5.

Run Qwen3-Max and GLM-4.5 on your own prompt

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