Model comparison - Open weights vs closed
Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs GLM-5.3
Claude Sonnet 5.5 is from Anthropic and GLM-5.3 is from Z.ai. On list price, GLM-5.3 charges 30% less than Claude Sonnet 5.5 for input ($1.40 vs $2 per 1M tokens), and Claude Sonnet 5.5 charges 2.3x GLM-5.3's output price ($10 vs $4.40 per 1M tokens). Claude Sonnet 5.5 and GLM-5.3 both have a 1,000,000-token context window, and both return up to 128,000 output tokens per response. Claude Sonnet 5.5 was released on September 28, 2026 and GLM-5.3 on August 18, 2026. GLM-5.3 publishes open weights (GLM-5.3 license (Hugging Face license tag: other)); Claude Sonnet 5.5 is closed-weights.
Last verified from each provider's pricing page. All sources
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Z.ai |
| Input / 1M tokens | $2 | $1.40 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $10 | $4.40 |
| Cache read / 1M | $0.10 | $0.26 |
| Cache write / 1M | $2.50 | - |
| Batch input / 1M | $1 | - |
| Batch output / 1M | $5 | - |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Max output | 128,000 | 128,000 |
| Release date | ||
| Weights | Closed | Open |
| License | - | GLM-5.3 license (Hugging Face license tag: other) |
| API model id | claude-sonnet-5-5 | glm-5.3 |
| AI Gateway id | anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5 | zai/glm-5.3 |
| Last verified |
Prices in USD per 1M tokens at each provider's standard first-party rate. A dash means the provider does not bill that item separately or no primary page states it.
What each costs in practice
The same three workloads every model page uses, worked from each model's standard list rates. Swap in your own token counts with the math on each model's page.
| Workload | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| One agent session1M input tokens and 100K output tokens, no caching. | $3.00 | $1.84 |
| A chat app10,000 requests a day at 2K input and 500 output tokens each. | $90.00$2,700.00 per 30-day month | $50.00$1,500.00 per 30-day month |
| The same session at a 90% cache hit90% of the input is read from the prompt cache. The one-time cache write premium is not included. | $1.29 | $0.814 |
Show the math
Claude Sonnet 5.5
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $2 = $2.00Output: 0.1M x $10 = $1.00
- A chat appInput: 20M x $2 = $40.00Output: 5M x $10 = $50.00
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.10 = $0.09Uncached input: 0.1M x $2 = $0.20Output: 0.1M x $10 = $1.00
GLM-5.3
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $1.40 = $1.40Output: 0.1M x $4.40 = $0.44
- A chat appInput: 20M x $1.40 = $28.00Output: 5M x $4.40 = $22.00
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.26 = $0.234Uncached input: 0.1M x $1.40 = $0.14Output: 0.1M x $4.40 = $0.44
Benchmarks under the same setting
Only boards that list both models under the same run setting appear here, one row per board and setting, with each score exactly as the board shows it. Scores on different boards use different scales and are never combined.
| Board and setting | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | GLM-5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal-Bench 4.0agent: Claude Code; effort: maxOfficial leaderboard - tbench.ai | 61.8% ± 2.9% | 41.8% ± 3.2% |
Set them up in your tools
Step-by-step guides whose official docs list Claude Sonnet 5.5 or GLM-5.3 by model id.
- Use GLM in AiderLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in Claude CodeLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in ClineLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in Codex CLILists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in ContinueLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in CursorLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in GooseLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in Kilo CodeLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in OpenCodeLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in Roo CodeLists GLM-5.3
- Use GLM in ZedLists GLM-5.3
Model pages
FAQ
How do Claude Sonnet 5.5 and GLM-5.3 compare on price?
On list price, GLM-5.3 charges 30% less than Claude Sonnet 5.5 for input ($1.40 vs $2 per 1M tokens), and Claude Sonnet 5.5 charges 2.3x GLM-5.3's output price ($10 vs $4.40 per 1M tokens). For one agent session of 1M input and 100K output tokens with no caching, that is $3.00 on Claude Sonnet 5.5 and $1.84 on GLM-5.3. Prices are each provider's first-party list rates, verified October 17, 2026 and October 17, 2026.
What are the context windows of Claude Sonnet 5.5 and GLM-5.3?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 and GLM-5.3 both have a 1,000,000-token context window, and both return up to 128,000 output tokens per response.
Are Claude Sonnet 5.5 and GLM-5.3 open weights?
Claude Sonnet 5.5 is closed-weights and is called through Anthropic's API as claude-sonnet-5-5. GLM-5.3's weights are published at huggingface.co under the GLM-5.3 license (Hugging Face license tag: other).
More comparisons
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Gemini 4 ArgonSimilar price, same tier
- Gemini 4 Argon vs GLM-5.3Open weights vs closed
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs GPT-6.1 SolSimilar price, same tier
- GLM-5.3 vs Mistral Large 4Similar price, same tier
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Grok 4.7Similar price, same tier
- GLM-5.3 vs GPT-6.1 SolOpen weights vs closed
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 vs Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95BSimilar price, same tier
- Claude Opus 5.5 vs GLM-5.3Open weights vs closed
Sources
Claude Sonnet 5.5 verified from platform.claude.com; GLM-5.3 verified from docs.z.ai. This page is as current as the older of the two: .
- https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing
- https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing
- https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/models/sonnet-5-5/overview
- https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/models/overview
- https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/release-notes/overview
- https://docs.z.ai/guides/llm/glm-5.3
- https://docs.z.ai/release-notes/new-released
- https://docs.z.ai/openapi.json
- https://huggingface.co/zai-org/GLM-5.3
- https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1/models
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