Model vs model
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 5.3
Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM 5.3 are both in llmwise. What each gets on every plan, what it reads, how it's served and what happens when its provider fails, from the catalog and the code that runs them.
Model prices and specs checked against OpenRouter's Gemini 3.8 Flash page, OpenRouter's GLM 5.3 page. Updated .
Short answer
They cost the same in llmwise: up to 250 messages a month on Pro on either. Otherwise, only Gemini 3.8 Flash reads images and only Gemini 3.8 Flash reads a PDF as the whole file. In our test runs, Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 46 of the 50 prompts both answered and GLM 5.3 48; 6 prompts split them, most on writing (3 to 4).
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 5.3, prompt by prompt
Every prompt Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM 5.3 both answered, compared directly, their biggest differences first. One run each, through OpenRouter: a wait depends on the provider and the load that day, so a lead under 10% counts as close.
Of the 50 prompts both answered, both passed 44, only Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 2, only GLM 5.3 passed 4, and neither passed 0. Gemini 3.8 Flash answered sooner on 1 of the 50 and GLM 5.3 on 48; the rest were within 10% of each other. The 50 replies cost $0.0644 on Gemini 3.8 Flash and $0.0364 on GLM 5.3: 1.8× less on GLM 5.3.
The 6 prompts only one of Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM 5.3 passed
Rewrite corporate jargon in plain words (writing): GLM 5.3 passed and Gemini 3.8 Flash didn't. Gemini 3.8 Flash: Graded 3.7 of 5 on average (lowest 3). GLM 5.3: Graded 4.0 of 5 on average (lowest 3).
A product announcement with five rules (writing): GLM 5.3 passed and Gemini 3.8 Flash didn't. Gemini 3.8 Flash: Graded 3.7 of 5 on average (lowest 3). GLM 5.3: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 4).
Argue both sides of free buses (writing): Gemini 3.8 Flash passed and GLM 5.3 didn't. Gemini 3.8 Flash: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 4). GLM 5.3: Graded 3.7 of 5 on average (lowest 3); but a paragraph of 92 words, over the 90 allowed.
An article in three bullets (summarization): Gemini 3.8 Flash passed and GLM 5.3 didn't. Gemini 3.8 Flash: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 4). GLM 5.3: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 3); but 68 words, over the 60 allowed.
Correlation between ad spend and sign-ups (data analysis): GLM 5.3 passed and Gemini 3.8 Flash didn't. Gemini 3.8 Flash: Final answer 0.91; expected 0.97. GLM 5.3: Final answer 0.97: right.
A frustrated customer (customer support): GLM 5.3 passed and Gemini 3.8 Flash didn't. Gemini 3.8 Flash: Graded 3.0 of 5 on average (lowest 2). GLM 5.3: Graded 4.7 of 5 on average (lowest 4).
Job by job, the widest gaps first
Customer support: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 4 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 1.6× sooner at the median, 3.7 s against 2.3 s. GLM 5.3 cost 3.5× less, $0.0082 against $0.0023 for the 5 replies. Their replies ran to about the same length.
Writing: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 3 of 5 and GLM 5.3 4 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 2.2× sooner at the median, 3.9 s against 1.8 s. GLM 5.3 cost 2.3× less, $0.0066 against $0.0029 for the 5 replies. Their replies ran to about the same length.
Data analysis: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 4 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 2.8× sooner at the median, 5.4 s against 1.9 s. GLM 5.3 cost 1.4× less, $0.0138 against $0.0096 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 194% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.
Summarization: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 4 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 3.4× sooner at the median, 3.7 s against 1.1 s. GLM 5.3 cost 1.4× less, $0.0038 against $0.0027 for the 5 replies. Their replies ran to about the same length.
Math: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 5.0× sooner at the median, 4.7 s against 0.9 s. GLM 5.3 cost 4.0× less, $0.0071 against $0.0018 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 96% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.
SQL: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 3.2× sooner at the median, 3.7 s against 1.2 s. GLM 5.3 cost 2.4× less, $0.0037 against $0.0016 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 31% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.
Agents and tool use: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 4.9× sooner at the median, 4.4 s against 0.9 s. GLM 5.3 cost 2.0× less, $0.0043 against $0.0022 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 10% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.
Coding: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 4.0× sooner at the median, 4.2 s against 1.1 s. GLM 5.3 cost 1.3× less, $0.0098 against $0.0073 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 59% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.
RAG and answering from documents: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 4.9× sooner at the median, 3.1 s against 0.6 s. GLM 5.3 cost 1.3× less, $0.0033 against $0.0025 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 28% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.
Translation: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 1.9× sooner at the median, 3.0 s against 1.6 s. They cost about the same, $0.0037 against $0.0035 for the 5 replies. GLM 5.3's replies ran 48% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.
All 50 prompts: who passed, who answered sooner, who cost less
| Prompt | Result | Sooner | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turn a title into a URL slug | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 9.6×took 4.2 s and 0.4 s | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 1.2×cost $0.0009 and $0.0010 |
| Parse a duration like “1h 30m” | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.2×took 2.3 s and 1.1 s | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 1.4×cost $0.0010 and $0.0014 |
| Merge overlapping intervals | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 4.6×took 3.8 s and 0.8 s | GLM 5.3, 1.5×cost $0.0012 and $0.0008 |
| Evaluate an arithmetic expression, no eval | Both passed | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 1.9×took 6.7 s and 12.5 s | GLM 5.3, 2.6×cost $0.0045 and $0.0017 |
| Parse CSV with quoted fields | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.9×took 5.0 s and 2.6 s | Closecost $0.0022 and $0.0024 |
| Announce a second bakery shop on LinkedIn | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.4×took 3.9 s and 2.9 s | GLM 5.3, 2.5×cost $0.0009 and $0.0004 |
| Rewrite corporate jargon in plain words | Only GLM 5.3 | GLM 5.3, 1.8×took 3.1 s and 1.8 s | GLM 5.3, 3.2×cost $0.0006 and $0.0002 |
| Decline a meeting and offer two times | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.5×took 3.5 s and 1.4 s | GLM 5.3, 2.9×cost $0.0008 and $0.0003 |
| A product announcement with five rules | Only GLM 5.3 | GLM 5.3, 8.9×took 7.6 s and 0.8 s | GLM 5.3, 4.1×cost $0.0031 and $0.0008 |
| Argue both sides of free buses | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash | GLM 5.3, 3.0×took 5.2 s and 1.8 s | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 1.1×cost $0.0011 and $0.0013 |
| A discount, then sales tax | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.7×took 2.5 s and 0.9 s | GLM 5.3, 3.3×cost $0.0007 and $0.0002 |
| Pens at 3 for $4 | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.2×took 4.7 s and 1.5 s | GLM 5.3, 9.3×cost $0.0017 and $0.0002 |
| Compound interest over three years | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.6×took 2.1 s and 0.6 s | GLM 5.3, 1.6×cost $0.0009 and $0.0005 |
| Four-digit numbers whose digits sum to 9 | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.5×took 4.7 s and 1.9 s | GLM 5.3, 8.6×cost $0.0022 and $0.0003 |
| The highest of three dice is a 5 | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 5.7×took 4.9 s and 0.9 s | GLM 5.3, 3.0×cost $0.0018 and $0.0006 |
| An article in three bullets | Only Gemini 3.8 Flash | GLM 5.3, 1.3×took 3.7 s and 2.8 s | GLM 5.3, 1.6×cost $0.0007 and $0.0004 |
| An email thread in one sentence | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.7×took 3.8 s and 1.0 s | GLM 5.3, 2.3×cost $0.0005 and $0.0002 |
| Decisions and action items from a meeting | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.1×took 3.2 s and 1.5 s | GLM 5.3, 4.0×cost $0.0009 and $0.0002 |
| A quarterly memo for the CEO | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.7×took 4.0 s and 1.1 s | Closecost $0.0009 and $0.0010 |
| A study with a negative result | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 4.3×took 3.6 s and 0.8 s | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 1.2×cost $0.0007 and $0.0008 |
| The region with the most revenue | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.5×took 7.4 s and 2.1 s | GLM 5.3, 9.6×cost $0.0038 and $0.0004 |
| Average order value in August | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.3×took 4.4 s and 1.9 s | GLM 5.3, 4.4×cost $0.0016 and $0.0004 |
| Revenue change from July to August | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 4.8×took 6.6 s and 1.4 s | GLM 5.3, 2.3×cost $0.0037 and $0.0016 |
| A median, filtered two ways | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.7×took 3.5 s and 1.0 s | Closecost $0.0010 and $0.0011 |
| Correlation between ad spend and sign-ups | Only GLM 5.3 | Closetook 5.4 s and 5.6 s | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 1.7×cost $0.0037 and $0.0062 |
| A late order | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.2×took 3.1 s and 2.6 s | GLM 5.3, 2.3×cost $0.0009 and $0.0004 |
| A return inside the window | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.9×took 2.9 s and 1.6 s | GLM 5.3, 3.7×cost $0.0009 and $0.0002 |
| A frustrated customer | Only GLM 5.3 | GLM 5.3, 1.6×took 3.7 s and 2.3 s | GLM 5.3, 3.5×cost $0.0011 and $0.0003 |
| A refund request outside the window | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 5.2×took 5.9 s and 1.1 s | GLM 5.3, 3.1×cost $0.0029 and $0.0009 |
| A message with a planted instruction | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.4×took 7.3 s and 5.3 s | GLM 5.3, 5.2×cost $0.0025 and $0.0005 |
| A delivery message into Spanish | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.5×took 3.7 s and 1.5 s | GLM 5.3, 3.4×cost $0.0008 and $0.0002 |
| A product description into French | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.5×took 2.2 s and 1.5 s | GLM 5.3, 2.5×cost $0.0008 and $0.0003 |
| A meeting note into German | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.9×took 3.0 s and 1.6 s | GLM 5.3, 3.4×cost $0.0006 and $0.0002 |
| Idioms into natural Japanese | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.7×took 4.7 s and 1.7 s | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 1.5×cost $0.0008 and $0.0012 |
| A lease clause into Brazilian Portuguese | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.2×took 2.0 s and 1.7 s | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 2.0×cost $0.0008 and $0.0016 |
| Customers in one country | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.9×took 3.1 s and 0.8 s | GLM 5.3, 3.6×cost $0.0005 and $0.0001 |
| Count orders by status | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.2×took 3.7 s and 1.2 s | GLM 5.3, 3.6×cost $0.0005 and $0.0001 |
| Revenue by category | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.4×took 3.0 s and 1.2 s | GLM 5.3, 3.7×cost $0.0008 and $0.0002 |
| Every customer, even those without orders | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.8×took 3.7 s and 1.0 s | Closecost $0.0008 and $0.0007 |
| Monthly revenue with a running total | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 1.4×took 4.7 s and 3.2 s | GLM 5.3, 3.2×cost $0.0012 and $0.0004 |
| A fact from one section | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.6×took 3.1 s and 0.9 s | GLM 5.3, 2.2×cost $0.0006 and $0.0003 |
| Core hours and start times | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 5.8×took 2.9 s and 0.5 s | Gemini 3.8 Flash, 1.1×cost $0.0006 and $0.0007 |
| Two sections in one answer | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 6.3×took 3.1 s and 0.5 s | GLM 5.3, 1.4×cost $0.0006 and $0.0005 |
| A later amendment changes the answer | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.2×took 4.1 s and 1.3 s | GLM 5.3, 1.5×cost $0.0009 and $0.0006 |
| A question the handbook doesn't answer | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 4.5×took 2.9 s and 0.6 s | GLM 5.3, 1.2×cost $0.0006 and $0.0005 |
| Pick the tool and work out the date | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 2.1×took 1.9 s and 0.9 s | GLM 5.3, 2.3×cost $0.0005 and $0.0002 |
| Convert a currency | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.9×took 4.4 s and 1.1 s | GLM 5.3, 5.4×cost $0.0008 and $0.0001 |
| Book a meeting from a sentence | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 3.7×took 6.3 s and 1.7 s | GLM 5.3, 2.1×cost $0.0012 and $0.0006 |
| Search, but don't book | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 11.7×took 6.3 s and 0.5 s | GLM 5.3, 1.7×cost $0.0009 and $0.0005 |
| Two calls with a unit conversion | Both passed | GLM 5.3, 5.5×took 3.9 s and 0.7 s | GLM 5.3, 1.3×cost $0.0010 and $0.0008 |
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 5.3 in our test runs
Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM 5.3 on the same prompts, job by job: how many replies passed their check.
Based on 100 of our test runs on , through OpenRouter with the app's own prompt and settings. Updated .
| Job | Gemini 3.8 Flash | GLM 5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Coding | 5 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
| Writing | 3 of 5 | 4 of 5 |
| Math | 5 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
| Summarization | 5 of 5 | 4 of 5 |
| Data analysis | 4 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
| Customer support | 4 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
| Translation | 5 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
| SQL | 5 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
| RAG and answering from documents | 5 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
| Agents and tool use | 5 of 5 | 5 of 5 |
| All jobs | 46 of 50 · 1 message each · $0.0013 a reply | 48 of 50 · 1 message each · $0.0007 a reply |
The same prompts, sent to both through llmwise's own pipeline and checked the same way: five for each job. A bold count is the one that passed more. Messages: what each reply counted as on Pro. Cost: what OpenRouter charged us per reply, on average. Every prompt, and how it's scored.
Where they differed most, writing: both replies to a prompt only one of them passed.
An everyday prompt: “Rewrite corporate jargon in plain words”, in full.
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Failed: Graded 3.7 of 5 on average (lowest 3).
By having different teams work together in the third quarter, we refocused our business on customer needs. This effort paid off: client retention rates increased by 12%, and the rate at which enterprise clients canceled dropped by 0.30% (30 basis points). At the same time, we streamlined and balanced our communication channels to make better use of our team’s time and resources.
447 tokens in, 81 out · 3.1 s · $0.0006 · 1 message on Pro · answered by google/gemini-3.8-flash via Google ·
GLM 5.3
Passed: Graded 4.0 of 5 on average (lowest 3).
In Q3, our teams worked together to make the business more customer-focused. As a result, customer retention rose 12%, and churn in our enterprise segment fell by 0.3 percentage points. We also adjusted our customer service channels to use our resources more efficiently.
434 tokens in, 98 out (41 of them reasoning) · 1.8 s · $0.0002 · 1 message on Pro · answered by z-ai/glm-5.3 via Baidu ·
Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM 5.3 on every plan
Whether the one-time free trial reaches each model, then each paid plan's messages on it.
| Plan | Price | Gemini 3.8 Flash | GLM 5.3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | In the one-time trial of 5 messages | In the one-time trial of 5 messages |
| Pro | $20 a month | Up to 250 a month | Up to 250 a month |
| Max | $50 a month | Up to 800 a month | Up to 800 a month |
| Ultra | $100 a month | Up to 1,800 a month | Up to 1,800 a month |
| Studio | $200 a month | Up to 4,000 a month | Up to 4,000 a month |
Prices don't include tax, which is added where it applies and shown before you pay. A paid plan's month is one allowance shared by every model, so each monthly count is the most you get if all of it goes to that model. It renews each billing period; everyday models refill daily at 00:00 UTC. Long chats count more per reply. How pricing works.
Every limit is published. Paid plans also have a monthly fair-use limit on AI cost: Pro $7.50, Max $20, Ultra $42, Studio $85. Using every message on your plan at typical sizes stays under it; very large messages and heavy research use it faster. Every limit, explained.
What differs
Messages on Pro
They cost the same in llmwise: up to 250 messages a month on Pro on either.
Context window
Both take up to 1.05M tokens of context. A chat in llmwise holds up to 200k tokens, which fits in either, so the difference shows only through each maker's own API.
Images and PDFs
GLM 5.3 doesn't read images. GLM 5.3 gets a PDF's text rather than the file itself.
On Free
Both are in the free trial.
Where messages go
Gemini 3.8 Flash: Sent to Google directly. GLM 5.3: Served through OpenRouter, only by hosts that don't store or train on prompts. The maker's own endpoint is never asked.
Fact by fact
| Fact | Gemini 3.8 Flash | GLM 5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 1.05M tokens | 1.05M tokens |
| Reads images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Whole file | Text only |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| API price (September 2026) | $0.75 in / $3.75 out per million tokens | $1.40 in / $4.40 out per million tokens |
| A typical message at API prices (4,000 tokens in, 700 out) | $0.0056 | $0.0087 |
| A $10 top-up adds | 200 messages | 200 messages |
| Where a message goes | Sent to Google directly. | Served through OpenRouter, only by hosts that don't store or train on prompts. The maker's own endpoint is never asked. |
| If the provider fails | If Google fails before the reply starts (an overload, a server error, a dropped connection), llmwise sends the same request to Gemini 3.8 Flash through OpenRouter instead. | When one host is down, OpenRouter moves the request to another host that meets the same rules. |
| Anthropic's safety fallback | Doesn't apply | Doesn't apply |
Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM 5.3?
From the facts above and our test runs: the rest is how their answers suit your work, which one chat can show you.
Pick Gemini 3.8 Flash: it reads images; it reads a PDF as the whole file, charts and scans included; it costs its maker less to run ($0.0056 a typical message at API prices), though in llmwise the count is the same.
Each model's page, the families, and other pairs
Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 5.3 is one pair of models. The page below covers the whole families.
- Gemini 3.8 Flash: price, limits and messages on every plan
- GLM 5.3: price, limits and messages on every plan
- Gemini vs GLM
- Gemini 3.8 Flash vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash
- Claude Sonnet 5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- Claude Haiku 4.5 vs Gemini 3.8 Flash
- GLM 5.3 vs GLM 5.3 Flash
- Kimi K3 vs GLM 5.3
- DeepSeek V4 Pro vs GLM 5.3
- Every model-vs-model page
Gemini 3.8 Flash is a Gemini model; GLM 5.3 is a GLM model.
Questions
Is Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM 5.3 cheaper in llmwise?
They cost the same in llmwise: up to 250 messages a month on Pro on either. Every paid plan's monthly allowance is shared by all models, so each count is the most you get if it all goes to that model.
Can I try Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM 5.3 for free?
Yes: both are in the free trial of 5 messages.
Which has the bigger context window, Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM 5.3?
Neither: both take 1.05M tokens. A chat in llmwise holds up to 200k tokens, which fits in either, so the difference shows only through each maker's own API.
Can I use Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM 5.3 in the same chat?
Yes. Pick Gemini 3.8 Flash for one message and GLM 5.3 for the next; the second sees the whole chat, including the first one's answer.
Which did better in your test runs, Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM 5.3?
On the same 50 prompts, run on September 27, 2026, Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 46 and GLM 5.3 passed 48. The table on this page has each job, and every reply is published.
Claude, GPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, Grok, Kimi, and GLM, in one chat.
See what a message costs before you send it. Free is 5 messages to try; sign in with an email link, no password or card.