GLM 5.3 vs Kimi K3

$0.85 / task

Wins 2 of 8 benchmarks

$2.00 / task

Wins 5 of 8 benchmarks

Different efforts: low · max · Compare all at max

Only shared

Terminal-Bench 4.0 Terminal-Bench 4.0 · source setting 2: Agents use a terminal to complete executable coding, system administration and research tasks in the 4.0 suite

GLM 5.334.8

Kimi K312.6

DeepSWE 1.1 DeepSWE 1.1: Agents change repository code to resolve software engineering tasks under the stated DeepSWE edition

GLM 5.3 · max69

Kimi K368.5

FrontierCode 1.1 FrontierCode 1.1: Agents implement changes in real repositories, graded against maintainer-defined requirements

GLM 5.3 · max40.1

Kimi K343.6

WebDev Arena WebDev Arena: Human pairwise preferences in the stated webdev vote pool

GLM 5.3 · max1,621

Kimi K31,655

SWE-bench Pro (v2 full) SWE-bench Pro (v2 full): Agents resolve repository issues under the network-locked v2 protocol; full and 51-task Hard results are separate

GLM 5.3 · max95.6

Kimi K397.7

SWE-bench Pro (v2 hard) SWE-bench Pro (v2 hard): Agents resolve repository issues under the network-locked v2 protocol; full and 51-task Hard results are separate

GLM 5.3 · max84.3

Kimi K388.2

SciCode SciCode: Writing code for real scientific computing problems (physics, biology, math)

GLM 5.342

Kimi K359.5

Terminal-Bench Science 0.1 Terminal-Bench Science 0.1: Agents complete expert-authored research workflows across five scientific domains in a terminal

GLM 5.3 · max9.5

Kimi K3—

Benchmark	GLM 5.3	Kimi K3
Terminal-Bench 4.0	34.8	12.6
DeepSWE 1.1	69 · max	68.5
FrontierCode 1.1	40.1 · max	43.6
WebDev Arena	1,621 · max	1,655
SWE-bench Pro (v2 full)	95.6 · max	97.7
SWE-bench Pro (v2 hard)	84.3 · max	88.2
SciCode	42	59.5
Terminal-Bench Science 0.1	9.5 · max	—

Specs

Spec	GLM 5.3	Kimi K3
Input, per 1M	!$1.40	$3
Output, per 1M	!$4.40	$15
Cost per task?	$0.85	$2.00
Speed, tok/s	126	112
Context	1M	1M
Weights	Open	Open
Released	Aug 2026	Jul 2026
Memory (4-bit)	452 GB	1,668 GB
Licence	glm-5.3	kimi-k3
Commercial use	Restricted	Restricted
See images	—	✓
Read PDFs	—	Partial
Hear audio	—	—
Watch video	—	✓
Call tools	✓	✓
Force a tool call	—	✓
Return strict JSON	✓	✓
Search the web	?	Partial
Run code	?	?
Use a computer	?	?

What breaks when you switch

GLM 5.3 → Kimi K3

Memory (4-bit): 452 GB → 1,668 GB

Sampling parameters are fixed›

temperature, top_p, n and penalty values are fixed; omit them from requests.

No public image URLs›

Vision input rejects public image URLs; use base64 or ms:// file references in a content array.

Web search is being updated›

Web search is not recommended for near-term production workflows; avoid depending on it in production.

Thinking mode is always enabled›

K3 always has thinking enabled; control effort with the top-level reasoning_effort field using low, high or max.

Kimi K3 → GLM 5.3

No image input

Reasoning cannot be disabled›

Disabling reasoning is unsupported; keep reasoning enabled.

tool_choice auto · Z.ai API›

The first-party chat reference exposes only auto for tool_choice.

Complete unmodified reasoning_content›

Preserved thinking defaults on for Coding Plan and off for the standard API; when enabled, return complete unmodified reasoning_content in its original order to protect quality and cache hits.

Only one stop word›

Only one stop word is supported, so do not rely on a list of alternative stop sequences.