Compare / OpenAI vs Z.ai

AI labs compared · October 2026

OpenAI vs Z.ai: which AI lab is ahead?

Each lab's best model on sale goes head to head on every kind of work we measure, from our own benchmarks and licensed sources. 38 models in all; a lab is only as good as the model you would actually pick from it.

27 models on sale with our resultsOpenAI Best: GPT-6.1 Sol · newest: GPT-6.1 Sol
11 models on sale with our resultsZ.ai Best: GLM-5.3 · newest: GLM-5.3-Flash
OpenAI wins 8Z.ai wins 0

Kinds of work led by each lab's best model there, of the 8 both are measured on.

Results as of 8 October 2026 (catalogue release 2026-10-08-4199ce0620fe). Models on sale means listed on OpenRouter today.

OpenAI or Z.ai? The short answer

OpenAI is ahead: its best models beat Z.ai's in all 8 kinds of work both are measured on.

  • Pick OpenAI for product listings, marketing planning, agents and tool use, professional work, reasoning and knowledge, writing, sticking to the facts and speed under pressure.
  • On our overall leaderboard, GPT-6.1 Sol is #2 (81 of 100) and GLM-5.3 is #16 (38).
  • Prices start at $0.060 per million tokens for OpenAI (gpt-oss-20b) and $0.15 for Z.ai (GLM-4.7-Flash).

Head to head

81GPT-6.1 Sol
Best Spring Prompt overall score
38GLM-5.3
52.7GPT-6 Astra
Best Intelligence Index
44.8GLM-5.3
$4.00GPT-6.1 Sol
Flagship price, per million tokens
$2.15GLM-5.3
$0.060gpt-oss-20b
Cheapest model, per million tokens
$0.15GLM-4.7-Flash
27
Models on sale with our results
11

Each line names the model behind the number. Prices are blended, three input tokens to one output, at the developer's list price where we have read it; see every model's price. Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis; overall score from our leaderboard.

Which lab is better for what

For each kind of work, each lab's best model there and its rank among every model on sale. Further right is better; the better rank is in green.

Product listingsTurning a sparse product feed and photos into listings that can go live 1 of 20GPT-6 Astra 19 of 20GLM-5V-Turbo
Decks from an analysisTurning a finished analysis into a deck you could present as it is 1 of 19GPT-6 Astra not measured
User surveysPlanning a user survey and reading its results without being misled 1 of 8GPT-6.1 Sol not measured
Marketing planningPlanning a year of ad spend without overspending 1 of 19GPT-6 Astra 16 of 19GLM-5.3
Agents and tool useMulti-step tasks with tools: support desks, coding agents, function calls 3 of 164GPT-6.1 Sol 11 of 164GLM-5.3
Professional workReal tasks from banking, consulting and law, business documents and freelance projects 1 of 51GPT-5.6 Sol 15 of 51GLM-5.3
Reasoning and knowledgeHard questions across science, maths and general knowledge 3 of 198GPT-6 Astra 25 of 198GLM-5.3
WritingWhat people prefer in blind comparisons, and judged writing quality 14 of 188GPT-5.5 23 of 188GLM-5.3
Sticking to the factsSummarising without inventing things, and factual answers 18 of 152GPT-6.1 Sol 30 of 152GLM-5.3-Flash
Speed under pressureGood decisions against a real clock (fast chess) 10 of 22GPT-6 Sol 19 of 22GLM-5.3

Every model, by intelligence and price

Each dot is a model on sale with an Intelligence Index from Artificial Analysis. Up is smarter; left is cheaper. Hover or tap a dot for its name.

OpenAIZ.ai

0204060 $0.01$0.1$1$10$100 Price per million tokens, blended (log scale) Intelligence Index GPT-6.1 SolGPT-6 AstraGPT-6 SolGPT-5.6 SolGPT-5.6 TerraGLM-5.3

On our overall leaderboard

The 6 of their models we rank overall: one score out of 100 across everything we publish (how the score works). Only models with enough of our own results are ranked.

  1. #2GPT-6.1 Sol81
  2. #3GPT-6 Astra79
  3. #4GPT-6 Sol69
  4. #15GPT-6 Luna40
  5. #16GLM-5.338
  6. #21GLM-5V-Turbo11

Benchmark by benchmark

The headline result of every benchmark both labs have models on: each lab's best model and its rank among the models on sale. Green marks the better rank.

MeasureOpenAIZ.ai
Agents and tool use
τ²-bench · Task success (pass^1) · tau2 v1.0.1, retail% of tasks, higher is better 81.6%GPT-5.2 · 2 of 673.7%GLM-5 · 5 of 6
τ²-bench · Task success (pass^1) · tau2 v1.0.1, airline% of tasks, higher is better 83.0%GPT-5.2 · 2 of 682.5%GLM-5 · 3 of 6
τ²-bench · Task success (pass^1) · tau2 v1.0.1, telecom% of tasks, higher is better 89.7%GPT-5.2 · 4 of 686.8%GLM-5 · 5 of 6
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard (BFCL) V4 · Overall accuracy · BFCL% correct, higher is better 63.1%o3 · 5 of 3872.4%GLM-4.6 · 3 of 38
OpenHands Index · Average% resolved, higher is better 65.9%GPT-5.5 · 5 of 3358.2%GLM-5.1 · 12 of 33
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 4.0% of tasks, higher is better 59.6%GPT-6 Astra · 2 of 10541.9%GLM-5.3 · 9 of 105
Artificial Analysis · Terminal-Bench 2.1% of tasks, higher is better 89.9%GPT-6 Astra · 2 of 11584.3%GLM-5.3-Flash · 14 of 115
Artificial Analysis · τ-bench banking% of tasks, higher is better 44.3%GPT-5.6 Sol · 12 of 11350.3%GLM-5.3 · 3 of 113
Vending-Bench 2 · Money after a yearUS dollars, higher is better $15,515GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 56$8,314GLM-5.2 · 7 of 56
Marketing planning
ROASBench · Overall scorescore out of 100, higher is better 56.6GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 1924.8GLM-5.3 · 16 of 19
Product listings
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready% of products, higher is better 75.0%GPT-6.1 Sol · 1 of 201.8%GLM-5V-Turbo · 19 of 20
CatalogBench · Reliably publish-ready · sales brief% of products, higher is better 69.6%GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 200.0%GLM-5V-Turbo · 18 of 20
Professional work
APEX-Agents · Tasks passed% of tasks, higher is better 64.7%GPT-6 Astra · 7 of 3756.6%GLM-5.3 · 13 of 37
GDP.pdf · Professional document tasks% of rubric, higher is better 30.7%GPT-5.6 Sol · 1 of 3114.0%GLM-5.3-Flash · 24 of 31
Reasoning and knowledge
Artificial Analysis · Artificial Analysis Intelligence Indexindex score, higher is better 52.7GPT-6 Astra · 4 of 19844.8GLM-5.3 · 14 of 198
Artificial Analysis · Humanity's Last Exam% of questions, higher is better 54.7%GPT-6 Astra · 6 of 19742.3%GLM-5.3 · 30 of 197
Artificial Analysis · GPQA Diamond% of questions, higher is better 96.3%GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 18791.7%GLM-5.3 · 24 of 187
Speed under pressure
BulletBench · Ladder Elo · Bullet 60sladder Elo, higher is better 445GPT-6 Sol · 10 of 2033GLM-5.3 · 17 of 20
Sticking to the facts
Vectara Hallucination Leaderboard · Hallucination rate · Vectara% of summaries, lower is better 3.1%GPT-5.4 nano · 1 of 799.3%GLM-4.7-Flash · 35 of 79
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · Text factualityArena rating, higher is better 1,486GPT-5.5 · 5 of 1131,467GLM-5.3 · 24 of 113
SimpleQA Verified (Epoch AI) · Correct answers% of questions, higher is better 75.6%GPT-6 Astra · 1 of 7341.0%GLM-5.3 · 41 of 73
Writing
Arena (formerly LMArena) · Overall · TextArena rating, higher is better 1,484GPT-5.6 Sol · 14 of 1661,478GLM-5.3 · 21 of 166
UGI Leaderboard · Writing score · UGIscore out of 100, higher is better 69.7GPT-5.5 · 11 of 13867.0GLM-5.2 · 18 of 138

Their models, one against one

Quick answers

Is OpenAI or Z.ai better?

OpenAI is ahead: its best models beat Z.ai's in all 8 kinds of work both are measured on.

What is OpenAI's best model?

GPT-6.1 Sol: #2 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 51.8 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

What is Z.ai's best model?

GLM-5.3: #16 on the Spring Prompt overall leaderboard and 44.8 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index.

Which is better for agents and tool use, OpenAI or Z.ai?

OpenAI: its best model there, GPT-6.1 Sol, ranks 3 of 164 models on sale, against 11 for Z.ai's GLM-5.3.

Which is better for reasoning and knowledge, OpenAI or Z.ai?

OpenAI: its best model there, GPT-6 Astra, ranks 3 of 198 models on sale, against 25 for Z.ai's GLM-5.3.

Which is better for writing, OpenAI or Z.ai?

OpenAI: its best model there, GPT-5.5, ranks 14 of 188 models on sale, against 23 for Z.ai's GLM-5.3.

Which is cheaper, OpenAI or Z.ai?

OpenAI's cheapest model with results, gpt-oss-20b, costs $0.060 per million tokens (three input to one output), against $0.15 for GLM-4.7-Flash from Z.ai.

Other labs compared

Which model is best for your product?

Benchmarks aren't your data. We test the models from OpenAI, Z.ai and the rest on your own tasks, with the cost of every answer.

Talk to usSee the leaderboard