Compare / MiniMax M3 vs GLM 5.3 Flash
MiniMax M3 vs GLM 5.3 Flash
Which is cheaper, which is more capable, and which does better at each kind of work, from 23 results on 3 sources that measured both models.
MiniMax M3 or GLM 5.3 Flash? The short answer
- GLM 5.3 Flash is cheaper: $0.24 against $0.52 per million tokens, 2.2 times less.
- GLM 5.3 Flash scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index: 41.8 against 29.2.
- MiniMax M3 writes faster: 81 tokens a second against 49.
- On our business benchmarks, GLM 5.3 Flash ranks higher for agents and tool use, professional work, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
At a glance
| MiniMax M3 | GLM 5.3 Flash | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per million tokens | $0.30 in · $1.20 out | $0.15 in · $0.50 out |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $0.52 | $0.24 |
| Cheapest host, blended | $0.41 (CoreWeave, FP4) | $0.12 (DeepInfra, FP4) |
| Intelligence Index | 29.2 | 41.8 |
| Spring Prompt overall | – | – |
| Output speed, tokens a second | 81 | 49 |
| Context window | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Developer based in | China | China |
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 models available today, for each kind of work, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. The better rank is in green.
| Use case | MiniMax M3 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls | 71 of 161 | 12 of 161 |
| Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects | 39 of 51 | 30 of 51 |
| Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge | 36 of 195 | 29 of 195 |
| WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality | 61 of 187 | 28 of 187 |
| Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers | 94 of 153 | 24 of 153 |
Every shared result
| Benchmark | Metric | MiniMax M3 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
|---|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agentsreported | Tasks passed% of tasks | 37.7% | 52.8% |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Confirmed task successIPS effect estimate | -0.14 | 0.07 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Praise over complaintIPS effect estimate | -0.13 | -0.00 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | SteerabilityIPS effect estimate | -0.07 | -0.01 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Tool groundingIPS effect estimate | -0.00 | 0.00 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | OverallArena rating | 1,434 | 1,467 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Business, management and financeArena rating | 1,450 | 1,463 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Creative writingArena rating | 1,406 | 1,433 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Expert promptsArena rating | 1,471 | 1,510 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Instruction followingArena rating | 1,435 | 1,474 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | OverallArena rating | 1,440 | 1,474 |
| Arena (formerly LMArena)reported | Writing, literature and languageArena rating | 1,422 | 1,450 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Artificial Analysis Coding Indexindex score | 58.6 | 71.5 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score | 29.2 | 41.8 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | GPQA Diamond% of questions | 92.9% | 91.2% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Humanity's Last Exam% of questions | 39.0% | 39.9% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Long-context reasoning (AA-LCR)% of questions | 83.0% | 80.0% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Output speedtokens per second | 80.6 | 49.5 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | SciCode% of problems | 47.1% | 51.6% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks | 65.2% | 84.3% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks | 2.0% | 32.8% |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Time to first answer tokenseconds | 25.9 | 43.3 |
| Artificial Analysisreported | Τ-bench banking% of tasks | 15.3% | 47.2% |
Bold green marks the better value on that metric. Where a source reports ranges that overlap, the difference may not be meaningful; see the benchmark page for ranges.
Quick answers
Is MiniMax M3 better than GLM 5.3 Flash?
It depends on the task. Among models available today, on our benchmarks and licensed sources, GLM 5.3 Flash ranks higher for agents and tool use, professional work, reasoning and knowledge, writing and sticking to the facts.
Which is cheaper, MiniMax M3 or GLM 5.3 Flash?
GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.24 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $0.52 for MiniMax M3.
Which is faster, MiniMax M3 or GLM 5.3 Flash?
MiniMax M3 writes about 81 tokens a second on its usual API, against 49 for GLM 5.3 Flash (Artificial Analysis).
Run MiniMax M3 and GLM 5.3 Flash on your own prompt
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