Compare / MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs GLM-5.3

MiniMax M3.1 Flash vs GLM-5.3

Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 16 results on 2 sources that measured both models.

MiniMaxMiniMax M3.1 Flash Released 19 Oct 2026 · $0.15 in · $0.60 out
Z.aiGLM-5.3 Released 14 Aug 2026 · $1.40 in · $4.40 out
MiniMax M3.1 Flash wins 112 too close to callGLM-5.3 wins 3

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 20 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-20-96eb40c3ec63). See also MiniMax vs Z.ai, every model from both labs.

MiniMax M3.1 Flash or GLM-5.3? The short answer

Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash: it scores higher (Spring Prompt overall 47 against 36) and costs less.

  • Spring Prompt overall: MiniMax M3.1 Flash 47, GLM-5.3 36 (out of 100; how the score works).
  • MiniMax M3.1 Flash is cheaper: $0.26 against $2.15 per million tokens, 8.2 times less.
  • GLM-5.3 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 44.8 against 42.4.
  • MiniMax M3.1 Flash writes faster: 159 tokens a second against 87.
  • MiniMax M3.1 Flash is newer: released 19 Oct 2026, against 14 Aug 2026 for GLM-5.3.
  • On our own benchmarks, on the results both models have: MiniMax M3.1 Flash does better for marketing planning.
  • On third-party benchmarks, on the results both models have: GLM-5.3 does better for agents and tool use.

Head to head

47
Spring Prompt overall
36
42.4
Intelligence Index
44.8
$0.26
Price per million tokens, blendedlower is better
$2.15
159
Output speed, tokens a second
87
1,048,576
Context window, tokens
1,048,576

Every fact side by side

MiniMax M3.1 FlashGLM-5.3
Price per million tokens$0.15 in · $0.60 out$1.40 in · $4.40 out
Blended (3 in : 1 out)$0.26$2.15
Cheapest host, blended–$0.65 (Novita, FP8)
Cached input, per million$0.015 cached input$0.26 cached input
Intelligence Index42.444.8
Spring Prompt overall4736
Output speed, tokens a second15987
Context window1,048,576 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Released19 Oct 2026 (newer)14 Aug 2026
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.

Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live 7 of 24 not measured
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is 14 of 24 not measured
User surveysPlanning a user survey and reading its results without being misled 13 of 13 not measured
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending 12 of 24 21 of 24
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 32 of 168 13 of 168
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects not measured 15 of 51
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 18 of 202 29 of 202
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality not measured 24 of 189
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers not measured 54 of 153
Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) not measured 25 of 27

From our research

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.

MeasureMiniMax M3.1 FlashGLM-5.3
ROASBench measured by Spring Prompt · 3 results
Overall scorescore out of 100, higher is better 12 · 21 of 24 measured 40.3 24.8
Audience scorescore out of 100, higher is better 12 · 17 of 24 measured 60.8 51.0
Business scorescore out of 100, higher is better 10 · 21 of 24 measured 38.9 12.9
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 3 results
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 21 · 17 of 249 measured 42.4 44.8max reasoning
Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 14 · 36 of 248 measured 48.0% 42.3%max reasoning
Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 22 · 11 of 118 measured 25.8% 41.9%max reasoning
Show all 16 results (10 more)
MeasureMiniMax M3.1 FlashGLM-5.3
ROASBench measured by Spring Prompt · 6 results
Consistency scorescore out of 100, higher is better 17 · 20 of 24 measured 17.3 14.8
Contribution profitsimulated US dollars, higher is better 5 · 22 of 24 measured $693,379 $9,718
Cost of a runUS dollars, lower is better 1 · 9 of 24 measured $0 $0.13
Months over budgetmonths of 12, lower is better 1 · 1 of 24 measured 0 0
Planning scorescore out of 100, higher is better 21 · 24 of 24 measured 54.2 51.7
Return on ad spendprofit per $1 spent, higher is better 9 · 22 of 24 measured $0.52 $0.01
Artificial Analysis reported by Artificial Analysis · 4 results
Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions, higher is better 45 · 45 of 239 measured 79.7% 79.7%max reasoning
Output speedtokens per second, higher is better 21 · 49 of 78 measured 159 87.5low reasoning
SciCode% of problems, higher is better 36 · 11 of 119 measured 53.4% 59.0%max reasoning
Time to first answer tokenseconds, lower is better 51 · 62 of 78 measured 13.3 25.4low reasoning

Quick answers

Is MiniMax M3.1 Flash better than GLM-5.3?

Pick MiniMax M3.1 Flash: it scores higher (Spring Prompt overall 47 against 36) and costs less.

Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or GLM-5.3?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash is cheaper: $0.26 against $2.15 per million tokens, 8.2 times less.

Which is faster, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or GLM-5.3?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash writes about 159 tokens a second on its usual API, against 87 for GLM-5.3 (Artificial Analysis).

Which is better for marketing planning, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or GLM-5.3?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash ranks 12 of 24 models on sale for planning a year of ad spend without overspending, against 21 for GLM-5.3.

Which is better for agents and tool use, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or GLM-5.3?

GLM-5.3 ranks 13 of 168 models on sale for multi-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls, against 32 for MiniMax M3.1 Flash.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, MiniMax M3.1 Flash or GLM-5.3?

MiniMax M3.1 Flash ranks 18 of 202 models on sale for hard questions across science, maths and general knowledge, against 29 for GLM-5.3.

Run MiniMax M3.1 Flash and GLM-5.3 on your own prompt

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