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© 2026 CompareLLM. Public benchmark data aggregated from Arena Elo, LiveBench, SWE-bench & OpenRouter.

Every score has a dated snapshot.

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  3. GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3 235B

Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3 235B benchmark

In this head-to-head showdown, GLM-5.3 delivers higher overall intelligence and human-preferred responses (Elo 1,558 vs 1,440), while GLM-5.3 leads in SWE-bench software engineering benchmarks (76.4%), while Qwen3 235B is more budget-friendly at $0.88/1M per 1M output tokens, while GLM-5.3 provides faster response streaming (90 tok/s). Review the complete breakdown below to determine which model best fits your performance and budget requirements.

Executive Comparison Verdict

Bottom Line: Choose GLM-5.3 if your priority is peak reasoning, complex code generation, and top preference Elo. Choose Qwen3 235B if you are optimizing for low latency, high throughput, and cost-efficient API deployment.
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Verified Head-to-Head Advantage Breakdown

9 direct benchmark disciplines evaluated across capability, speed, and cost

GLM-5.3 (7)Qwen3 235B (2)
GLM-5.3
7 of 9 Wins
✓Preference Elo✓LiveBench✓SWE-bench✓GPQA Diamond✓Time to first token✓Output speed✓Context window
Qwen3 235B
2 of 9 Wins
✓Input price✓Output price
Zhipu
Leads 7 of 9 metrics
GLM-5.3

Z.ai Aug 14 2026 post-train of the GLM-5.2 744B base. Coding-plan live; open weights promised after a two-week safety review (z.ai/blog/glm-5.3).

Elo 1,558$1.8/1M out
Alibaba
Leads 2 of 9 metrics
Qwen3 235B

Open-weight Qwen3 mixture-of-experts.

235B MoEElo 1,440$0.88/1M out

GLM-5 Series Lineage & Sibling Variants

3 models

Currently comparing GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3 235B. Alternative family tiers available.

Active: GLM-5.3
GLM-5.2$1.8GLM-5V Turbo$0.6
Top Rival Showdowns for GLM-5.3
All Matchups
Compare vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5vs GPT-5vs Gemini 3 Provs Grok 4.6vs DeepSeek V4 Pro
Preference LeaderGLM-5.3 Wins

GLM-5.3

Δ 118 Arena Elo pts

Throughput LeaderGLM-5.3 Wins

GLM-5.3

90 tok/s

Value per Dollar LeaderQwen3 235B Wins

Qwen3 235B

$0.88 / 1M output

Capability Percentiles

Relative percentile scores computed across all active models in the benchmark catalog.

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Leaders Matchup Capability Radar

Comparing top Western standard models with China's leading frontier rival across 6 skill dimensions. Tap any spoke or dot to inspect.

Tap any node to inspect
0–100 %ile
Head-to-Head Comparison

Overall Matchup Breakdown

Category wins across reasoning intelligence, generation speed, and token cost.

GLM-5.3 (8)vsQwen3 235B (2)
GLM-5.3: 8W (80%)Overall: GLM-5.3Qwen3 235B: 2W (20%)
← GLM-5.3Qwen3 235B →
🏆GLM-5.3(5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Benchmark
GLM-5.3vsQwen3 235B
Preference Elo
1,558vs1,440+118
Coding Elo
1,586vs—
SWE-bench
76.4%vs59.4%+17%
LiveBench
70.8%vs63.5%+7.3%
GPQA Diamond
83.2%vs76.8%+6.4%
GLM-5.3: 5WQwen3 235B: 0W
🏆GLM-5.3(2/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Benchmark
GLM-5.3vsQwen3 235B
Output speed
90 tok/svs74 tok/s+16 tok/s
Time to first token
255 msvs320 ms+65 ms
GLM-5.3: 2WQwen3 235B: 0W
🏆Qwen3 235B(2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Benchmark
GLM-5.3vsQwen3 235B
Output price
$1.8/1Mvs$0.88/1M+$0.92/1M
Input price
$0.5/1Mvs$0.22/1M+$0.28/1M
Context window
200kvs131k+69k
GLM-5.3: 1WQwen3 235B: 2W

Side-by-Side Benchmark Matrix

Preference Elo+118
GLM-5.31,558
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B1,440
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Coding Elo
GLM-5.31,586
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B—
LiveBench+7.3%
GLM-5.370.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B63.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
SWE-bench+17%
GLM-5.376.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B59.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
GPQA Diamond+6.4%
GLM-5.383.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B76.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Time to first token+65 ms
GLM-5.3255 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B320 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output speed+16 tok/s
GLM-5.390 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B74 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Input price+$0.28/1M
GLM-5.3$0.5/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B$0.22/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Output price+$0.92/1M
GLM-5.3$1.8/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B$0.88/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
Context window+69k
GLM-5.3200k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
Qwen3 235B131k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
BenchmarkGLM-5.3Qwen3 235BAdvantage Delta
Preference Elo
1,558
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
1,440
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+118
Coding Elo
1,586
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
——
LiveBench
70.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
63.5%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+7.3%
SWE-bench
76.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
59.4%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+17%
GPQA Diamond
83.2%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
76.8%
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+6.4%
Time to first token
255 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
320 ms
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+65 ms
Output speed
90 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
74 tok/s
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+16 tok/s
Input price
$0.5/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
$0.22/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.28/1M
Output price
$1.8/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
$0.88/1M
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+$0.92/1M
Context window
200k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 16, 2026
131k
seed-bootstrap · Aug 1, 2026
+69k
Interactive Simulator (USD)

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs in USD (US Dollar).

Save up to 53% with Qwen3 235B
Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo
Quick Presets:
Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out
RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)
GLM-5.3$44.50 / mo
In: $17.5Out: $27
Qwen3 235B$20.90 / mo
In: $7.7Out: $13.2
Estimated Cost Delta

Qwen3 235B is estimated to save $23.60/month ($283/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

  • 1
    GLM-5.3:Pick GLM-5.3 when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
  • 2
    Qwen3 235B:Pick Qwen3 235B when you are optimizing output cost.
  • 3
    GLM-5.3:Pick GLM-5.3 when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGLM-5.3

Higher SWE-bench (76.4%).

High-volume chatQwen3 235B

Lower output list price ($0.88/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIGLM-5.3

Lower TTFT (255 ms).

Long-document RAGGLM-5.3

Larger window (200k).

Screenshots / visionGLM-5.3

GLM-5.3 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Target WorkloadRecommended PickEvaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agentsGLM-5.3Higher SWE-bench (76.4%).
High-volume chatQwen3 235BLower output list price ($0.88/1M).
Voice / low-latency UIGLM-5.3Lower TTFT (255 ms).
Long-document RAGGLM-5.3Larger window (200k).
Screenshots / visionGLM-5.3GLM-5.3 is the side marked multimodal in the catalog.

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news
launchAug 14, 2026

GLM-5.3 (Aug 14): Z.ai post-train of the 5.2 744B base

Coding-plan live; open weights promised after a two-week safety review. Newest Zhipu row.

launchJun 18, 2026

GLM-5.2 remains the prior Zhipu flagship for upgrade pairs

Strong Chinese/English coding. 5.3 is the new row; 5.2 stays so the delta is visible.

launchSep 20, 2025

Qwen3 235B: the open MoE Qwen, not the Max SKU

Sep 2025 open-weight mixture-of-experts. Self-host path. Don’t confuse it with Qwen 3 Max.

Community Sentiment

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CompareLLM AI Matrix

Verified Head-to-Head Telemetry

LIVE BENCHMARK
VS
Zhipu

GLM-5.3

Elo 1,558
SWE-bench76.4%
Speed (tok/s)90 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.5/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$1.8/1M
Alibaba

Qwen3 235B

Elo 1,440
SWE-bench59.4%
Speed (tok/s)74 tok/s
Input / 1M Tokens$0.22/1M
Output / 1M Tokens$0.88/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, GLM-5.3 or Qwen3 235B?
GLM-5.3 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,558). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, GLM-5.3 or Qwen3 235B?
GLM-5.3 leads SWE-bench at 76.4% vs 59.4%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?
Qwen3 235B output tokens are $0.88/1M versus $1.8/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, GLM-5.3 or Qwen3 235B?
GLM-5.3 has the lower time-to-first-token (255 ms vs 320 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?
GLM-5.3 accepts 200k tokens versus 131k.
Can I self-host either model?
Qwen3 235B is marked open-weights in our catalog. The other side is a closed API. Check the provider license before you ship weights.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?
No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?
Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. GLM-5.3 and Qwen3 235B Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Related news

  • launch · Aug 14, 2026

    GLM-5.3 (Aug 14): Z.ai post-train of the 5.2 744B base

  • launch · Jun 18, 2026

    GLM-5.2 remains the prior Zhipu flagship for upgrade pairs

  • launch · Sep 20, 2025

    Qwen3 235B: the open MoE Qwen, not the Max SKU

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All GLM-5.3 matchups →|All Qwen3 235B matchups →
GLM-5.3 vs GLM-5V Turbo (previous glm)Qwen3 235B vs Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B (previous qwen)Qwen3 235B vs Qwen QwQ 32B (next qwen)Qwen 3 Max vs GLM-5.3GLM-5.2 vs Qwen3 235BGLM-5V Turbo vs Qwen3 235B