GLM 5.3
- Input / 1M tokens
- $0.08
- Output / 1M tokens
- $3.60
- Providers
- 35
- Uptime, 24 h
- 100%
API models · Side by side
GLM 5.3 vs Claude Sonnet 5.5
GLM 5.3 from Z.ai and Claude Sonnet 5.5 from Anthropic both read about a million tokens. One is open-weight and sold by dozens of providers; the other is closed, with one set price. Here's how they differ on cost, inputs and control.
Claude Sonnet 5.5
- Input / 1M tokens
- $2.00
- Output / 1M tokens
- $10.00
- Providers
- 5
- Uptime, 24 h
- 100%
The short answer
Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens at Anthropic's standard rate. GLM 5.3 is sold by more than 30 providers, so its price depends on where you run it, though all of them charge less than $10 per million output tokens. Sonnet also reads images and files; GLM 5.3 takes text only.
Estimate your monthly bill
Enter your own usage. We apply each model's current rates, including long-prompt pricing, for a 30-day month.
Try:
GLM 5.3$59.04per month
Claude Sonnet 5.5$270.00per month
A token is roughly three-quarters of an English word. Cached input, reasoning tokens, tools and media are not included.
Compare the details
Compare context, supported inputs and usage costs. Highlighted rows show a difference.
| Feature | GLM 5.3 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Input formats | text | file, image, text |
| Output formats | text | text |
| Context / position limit | 1,048,576 | 1,000,000 |
| Endpoint output limit (tokens) | 943,718 | 128,000 |
| Developer features | frequency penalty, Reasoning output, logit bias, logprobs, Output limit, min p, parallel tool calls, presence penalty, Reasoning controls, Thinking effort, repetition penalty, Response format, Seed, Stop sequences, Structured output, Temperature, Tool selection, Tool calling, top k, top logprobs, Sampling controls | Reasoning output, Completion limit, Output limit, Reasoning controls, Thinking effort, Response format, Stop sequences, Structured output, Tool selection, Tool calling, Response length |
| Cached input / 1M tokens | $0.08 | $0.10 |
| Cache write / 1M tokens | Unknown | $2.50 |
| USD input / 1M tokens | $0.08 | $2.00 |
| USD output / 1M tokens | $3.60 | $10.00 |
| Available API providers | 35 | 5 |
| Best provider uptime, last 24 h | 100% | 100% |
| Price range across providers (per 1M tokens) | Input $0.070–$2.80, output $1.40–$8.80 across 35 providers | Set by Anthropic |
| Model identifier | z-ai/glm-5.3 | anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5 |
API pricing
Prices are in USD per million tokens. Input is what you send; output is what the model generates. Chat subscriptions and API usage are billed separately.
Tools, images and additional reasoning can add charges. The examples below cover input and output tokens only.
Compare local modelsWhat those prices mean in practice
Each example uses the same token budget for both models. These are calculations, not measured workloads. Cache discounts, media, tools and extra reasoning are excluded.
| Workload | GLM 5.3 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 short requestsPer request: 2,000 input + 500 output tokens | $1.97 | $9.00 |
| 100 document summariesPer request: 20,000 input + 1,000 output tokens | $0.53 | $5.00 |
| 10 long-document requestsPer request: 300,000 input + 2,000 output tokens | $0.32 | $6.20 |
Estimate = requests × (input tokens × input price + output tokens × output price) ÷ 1,000,000. Long-prompt rates are applied where the pricing data provides them. Real requests can use different amounts of output.
Beyond the price tag
One price card vs many
Sonnet 5.5 has one standard price, plus cached input reads at $0.10 per million tokens. A few regional Google Vertex and Azure endpoints charge 10% more. More than 30 providers sell GLM 5.3 at very different prices, and the cheapest one changes often. Use the live price range and calculator on this page with your own token counts.
Sonnet reads images and files
Sonnet 5.5 accepts text, images and files. GLM 5.3 takes text only, so screenshots or documents need converting to text first. Both return text, support tool calling and structured output, and let you set a reasoning effort level. Sonnet replies are capped at 128K tokens. GLM's cap depends on the provider, from 128K to about 944K.
Running it yourself
GLM 5.3 is free to download under Z.ai's own licence, which allows commercial use, changes and resale. Only companies selling model access with over $10 billion in yearly revenue must pass a Z.ai security review first. Its weights total about 753B parameters, so plan for a multi-GPU server. Sonnet 5.5 isn't downloadable: you use it through Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Google Vertex or Azure.
Which one should you pick?
Choose GLM 5.3 if your work is text-only, you want lower output prices and many providers to pick from, or you may want to self-host or fine-tune later. Choose Claude Sonnet 5.5 if you need image or file input, one predictable price, or access through AWS, Google Cloud or Azure. Either way, test both on your own tasks.
Common questions
Which is cheaper?
Output is cheaper at every GLM 5.3 provider listed. Most also charge less than Sonnet's $2 per million input tokens, but not all. Try your own numbers in the calculator.
Can I run GLM 5.3 on my own server?
Yes, but at about 753B parameters you'll need a multi-GPU server. Many providers run compressed FP8 or FP4 versions to save memory. Our model hardware calculator can size a setup for you.
Is GLM 5.3 the same as GLM 5.3 Flash?
No. Flash is a separate, smaller model that also accepts images and video. GLM 5.3 is the larger, text-only model. We compare Flash with DeepSeek V4.1 Flash on its own page.