Disabling reasoning is unsupported; keep reasoning enabled. Source ↗
tool_choice auto · Z.ai API›
The first-party chat reference exposes only auto for tool_choice. Source ↗
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. Source ↗
Only one stop word›
Only one stop word is supported, so do not rely on a list of alternative stop sequences. Source ↗
FAQ
How much does GLM 5.3 cost?›
$1.40 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens; cached input $0.26 per 1M; cheapest via Wafer at $0.079 / $1.40. A typical benchmark task costs about $2.01 at max effort.
Is GLM 5.3 free to use?›
There is no free API; the cheapest paid price is $0.079 per 1M input tokens. The weights are open, so you can run it yourself.
How good is GLM 5.3, and what is it best at?›
#37 of 334 in Chat & Knowledge, #12 of 132 in Coding, #13 of 133 in Agents & Tool Use, #23 of 195 in Writing & Language, #52 of 133 in Vision & Documents. Strongest at: Coding, Agents & work tasks, Reasoning, Science, Long context, Knowledge.
Is GLM 5.3 better than GLM 5.2?›
On SimpleQA Verified v1, GLM 5.3 scores 41 vs 34.2 — higher. It is 36% more expensive per task.
How can I use GLM 5.3?›
Through the API of AkashML, Alibaba, AtlasCloud, Baidu, Cloudflare and 24 more.
What is the context window of GLM 5.3?›
1M tokens, with up to 131K output tokens.
When was GLM 5.3 released? Is there a newer version?›
Released 2026-08-14. It is the current version in its line.
Is GLM 5.3 open source?›
Yes, the weights are open (glm-5.3 licence).
Can I run GLM 5.3 locally?›
The weights are open and can be self-hosted; hardware needs are not confirmed yet.
Can GLM 5.3 read images?›
No, it accepts text only.
What is GLM 5.3?›
GLM 5.3 is an open-weights language model from Z.ai, released Aug 2026, the successor to GLM 5.2.
What are the best alternatives to GLM 5.3?›
Gemini 3.8 Flash (cheaper), DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (better).
CheaperGemini 3.8 Flashunstated+82%-30%*$0.75 / $3.75Sampling parameters are ignored+1
BetterDeepSeek V4 Pro 0813maxOpen+29%-66%$0.67Memory (4-bit): 452 GB → 990 GB+5
CheaperGPT-6.1 Solmax+80%-64%$0.72Remove unsupported parameters+5
Grok 4.5high+18%-56%$0.88Context: 1M → 500K
Muse Spark 1.2xhigh+47%-51%$0.97Only auto tool_choice is supported+1
Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507unstatedOpensame-65%$0.23 / $2.30Context: 1M → 262K+1TInklingxhighOpensame-20%$0.95 / $4.05Context: 1M → 256K+2
Kimi K2.7 CodeunstatedOpen-11%-20%$0.95 / $4Context: 1M → 256K+2