Model comparison - Similar price, same tier
GLM-5.3-Flash vs MiniMax-M3
GLM-5.3-Flash is from Z.ai and MiniMax-M3 is from MiniMax. On list price, MiniMax-M3 charges 2x GLM-5.3-Flash's input price ($0.30 vs $0.15 per 1M tokens), and MiniMax-M3 charges 2.4x GLM-5.3-Flash's output price ($1.20 vs $0.50 per 1M tokens). GLM-5.3-Flash and MiniMax-M3 both have a 1,000,000-token context window; max output is 128,000 and 524,288 tokens per response. GLM-5.3-Flash was released on August 26, 2026 and MiniMax-M3 on June 1, 2026. Both publish open weights.
Last verified from each provider's pricing page. All sources
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | GLM-5.3-Flash | MiniMax-M3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Z.ai | MiniMax |
| Input / 1M tokens | $0.15 | $0.30 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $0.50 | $1.20 |
| Cache read / 1M | $0.03 | $0.06 |
| Long-context rates above | - | 512,000 tokens |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Max output | 128,000 | 524,288 |
| Release date | ||
| Weights | Open | Open |
| License | MIT | MiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community) |
| API model id | glm-5.3-flash | MiniMax-M3 |
| AI Gateway id | zai/glm-5.3-flash | minimax/minimax-m3 |
| 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 | GLM-5.3-Flash | MiniMax-M3 |
|---|---|---|
| One agent session1M input tokens and 100K output tokens, no caching. | $0.20 | $0.42 |
| A chat app10,000 requests a day at 2K input and 500 output tokens each. | $5.50$165.00 per 30-day month | $12.00$360.00 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. | $0.092 | $0.204 |
Show the math
GLM-5.3-Flash
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $0.15 = $0.15Output: 0.1M x $0.50 = $0.05
- A chat appInput: 20M x $0.15 = $3.00Output: 5M x $0.50 = $2.50
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.03 = $0.027Uncached input: 0.1M x $0.15 = $0.015Output: 0.1M x $0.50 = $0.05
MiniMax-M3
- One agent sessionInput: 1M x $0.30 = $0.30Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12
- A chat appInput: 20M x $0.30 = $6.00Output: 5M x $1.20 = $6.00
- The same session at a 90% cache hitCached input: 0.9M x $0.06 = $0.054Uncached input: 0.1M x $0.30 = $0.03Output: 0.1M x $1.20 = $0.12
Benchmarks under the same setting
No board in the benchmark directory lists both GLM-5.3-Flash and MiniMax-M3 under the same setting, so there is no like-for-like score to show here.
Set them up in your tools
Step-by-step guides whose official docs list GLM-5.3-Flash or MiniMax-M3 by model id.
- Use GLM in AiderLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use GLM in Claude CodeLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use GLM in ClineLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use GLM in ContinueLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use GLM in GooseLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use GLM in Kilo CodeLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use GLM in OpenCodeLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use GLM in Roo CodeLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use GLM in ZedLists GLM-5.3-Flash
- Use MiniMax in AiderLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Claude CodeLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in ClineLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Codex CLILists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in CursorLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in GitHub CopilotLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in GooseLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in Kilo CodeLists MiniMax-M3
- Use MiniMax in ZedLists MiniMax-M3
- Use Ollama in Claude CodeLists GLM-5.3-Flash
Model pages
FAQ
How do GLM-5.3-Flash and MiniMax-M3 compare on price?
On list price, MiniMax-M3 charges 2x GLM-5.3-Flash's input price ($0.30 vs $0.15 per 1M tokens), and MiniMax-M3 charges 2.4x GLM-5.3-Flash's output price ($1.20 vs $0.50 per 1M tokens). For one agent session of 1M input and 100K output tokens with no caching, that is $0.20 on GLM-5.3-Flash and $0.42 on MiniMax-M3. Prices are each provider's first-party list rates, verified October 17, 2026 and October 17, 2026.
What are the context windows of GLM-5.3-Flash and MiniMax-M3?
GLM-5.3-Flash and MiniMax-M3 both have a 1,000,000-token context window; max output is 128,000 and 524,288 tokens per response.
Are GLM-5.3-Flash and MiniMax-M3 open weights?
GLM-5.3-Flash's weights are published at huggingface.co under the MIT. MiniMax-M3's weights are published at huggingface.co under the MiniMax Community License (Hugging Face license tag: other / minimax-community).
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Sources
GLM-5.3-Flash verified from docs.z.ai; MiniMax-M3 verified from platform.minimax.io. This page is as current as the older of the two: .
- https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/pricing
- https://docs.z.ai/guides/vlm/glm-5.3-flash
- https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/overview
- https://docs.z.ai/release-notes/new-released
- https://docs.z.ai/openapi.json
- https://huggingface.co/zai-org/GLM-5.3-Flash
- https://ai-gateway.vercel.sh/v1/models
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/pricing/overview
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/guides/text-generation
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/api-reference/text-anthropic-api
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/api-reference/text-chat-anthropic
- https://platform.minimax.io/docs/release-notes/models
- https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3
- https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3/raw/main/LICENSE
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