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Comparison

Gemini vs GLM

On llmwise Pro, Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) up to 125 messages a month and GLM 5.3 up to 250. We ran the same 50 prompts across 10 jobs on every Gemini and GLM model and published every reply: each family's pick against the other's job by job, the prompts where they split, then their plans and how the lineups differ.

Based on 200 of our test runs on , through OpenRouter with the app's own prompt and settings. Updated .

Short answer

In our test runs on September 27, 2026, the same 50 prompts across 10 jobs: Gemini's 2 models passed 95 of 100 replies and GLM's 2 models passed 88 of 100 replies. Job by job, both families' best models shared the top result on 9 of the 10 jobs; Gemini's alone had it on summarization.

Gemini vs GLM, job by job

On each job, Gemini's pick against GLM's: the model of each family that passed the most of the job's 5 prompts (then the most hard ones, then the cheaper). The jobs where they differ most come first.

  • 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.

  • Coding: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 Flash 5 of 5. Gemini 3.8 Flash answered 2.0× sooner at the median, 4.2 s against 8.4 s. GLM 5.3 Flash cost 7.7× less, $0.0098 against $0.0013 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 56% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Writing: Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) passed 4 of 5 and GLM 5.3 4 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 5.2× sooner at the median, 9.1 s against 1.8 s. GLM 5.3 cost 16.0× less, $0.0459 against $0.0029 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 Flash 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 Flash answered 1.7× sooner at the median, 4.7 s against 2.7 s. GLM 5.3 Flash cost 9.5× less, $0.0071 against $0.0008 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 60% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Data analysis: Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 4.5× sooner at the median, 8.6 s against 1.9 s. GLM 5.3 cost 8.1× less, $0.0773 against $0.0096 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview)'s replies ran 124% longer, in tokens of reply, thinking not counted.

  • Customer support: Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 answered 3.8× sooner at the median, 8.7 s against 2.3 s. GLM 5.3 cost 22.7× less, $0.0529 against $0.0023 for the 5 replies. Their replies ran to about the same length.

  • Translation: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 Flash 5 of 5. Gemini 3.8 Flash answered 1.4× sooner at the median, 3.0 s against 4.1 s. GLM 5.3 Flash cost 7.6× less, $0.0037 against $0.0005 for the 5 replies. Their replies ran to about the same length.

  • SQL: Gemini 3.8 Flash passed 5 of 5 and GLM 5.3 Flash 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 Flash answered 2.5× sooner at the median, 3.7 s against 1.4 s. GLM 5.3 Flash cost 5.7× less, $0.0037 against $0.0006 for the 5 replies. Gemini 3.8 Flash's replies ran 33% 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 Flash 5 of 5. GLM 5.3 Flash answered 1.4× sooner at the median, 3.1 s against 2.2 s. GLM 5.3 Flash cost 4.3× less, $0.0033 against $0.0008 for the 5 replies. GLM 5.3 Flash's replies ran 35% 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.

The prompt only one of Gemini and GLM passed

Where one family's pick passed a prompt and the other's didn't, in each check's own words.

  • 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.

Each Gemini model against each GLM model

Every Gemini model against every GLM model on the same 50 prompts: each one's passes, how many prompts split them, and who was cheaper and quicker.

  • Gemini 3.1 Pro vs GLM 5.3: 49 and 48 of 50; one prompt split them; GLM 5.3's replies cost 14.7× less in all, and GLM 5.3 answered sooner on 50, Gemini 3.1 Pro on 0. Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) vs GLM 5.3.

  • Gemini 3.1 Pro vs GLM 5.3 Flash: 49 and 40 of 50; 9 prompts split them; GLM 5.3 Flash's replies cost 55.4× less in all, and GLM 5.3 Flash answered sooner on 40, Gemini 3.1 Pro on 6.

  • Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 5.3: 46 and 48 of 50; 6 prompts split them; GLM 5.3's replies cost 1.8× less in all, and GLM 5.3 answered sooner on 48, Gemini 3.8 Flash on 1. Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 5.3.

  • Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 5.3 Flash: 46 and 40 of 50; 6 prompts split them; GLM 5.3 Flash's replies cost 6.7× less in all, and Gemini 3.8 Flash answered sooner on 23, GLM 5.3 Flash on 18. Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 5.3 Flash.

One summarization prompt, both replies

Gemini 3.8 Flash and GLM 5.3 on a summarization prompt, the job where they differed most: both replies as they came.

An everyday prompt: “An article in three bullets”, in full.

  • Gemini 3.8 Flash

    Passed: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 4).

    * Aldmoor's six-month trial increased daily bike trips from 900 to 2,300 and reduced cyclist injuries from nine to two.
    * Car traffic fell 14% with minor delays, while local shop owners reported mixed impacts on customer numbers.
    * The city council votes in November on making the lanes permanent, which would cost €1.1 million.

    560 tokens in, 81 out · 3.7 s · $0.0007 · 1 message on Pro · answered by google/gemini-3.8-flash via Google ·

  • GLM 5.3

    Failed: Graded 4.3 of 5 on average (lowest 3); but 68 words, over the 60 allowed.

    - Aldmoor ended its six-month protected bike lane trial on Market Street; the council votes in November on making them permanent.
    - Daily bike trips rose from about 900 to 2,300, cyclist injuries fell from nine to two, and car traffic dropped 14%, though rush-hour drives got slightly longer.
    - Businesses are split (27 reported more customers, 19 fewer), and permanence would cost an extra €1.1 million beyond the €410,000 spent.

    539 tokens in, 218 out (118 of them reasoning) · 2.8 s · $0.0004 · 1 message on Pro · answered by z-ai/glm-5.3 via Morph ·

Every model, every job

All 4 Gemini and GLM models in llmwise across the 50 prompts, with what a reply cost to run and each model's count on Pro.

Every Gemini and GLM model across our test runs
ModelPassedHard onesCost per replyOn Pro
Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview)Google49 of 5019 of 20$0.0107Up to 125 a month
Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle46 of 5018 of 20$0.0013Up to 250 a month
GLM 5.3Z.ai48 of 5019 of 20$0.00073Up to 250 a month
GLM 5.3 FlashZ.ai40 of 5016 of 20$0.00019Up to 60 a day

Passed: replies that passed their check, of those scored. Cost: what OpenRouter charged us per reply, on average; in llmwise you pay per message, not per token. Every prompt and how it's scored.

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.

Its own subscription

The one company here with its own plan at about llmwise Pro's price ($20 a month), in its own words, dated. We drop a plan here when its facts are more than 45 days old.

llmwise Pro, $20 a month, has all 4 of these models in one chat, from one monthly allowance: Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) up to 125 messages a month and GLM 5.3 up to 250.

The lineups at a glance

What follows from each model's facts in our catalog.

  • The lineups

    Gemini: 2 models, Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) and Gemini 3.8 Flash. GLM: 2 models, GLM 5.3 and GLM 5.3 Flash.

  • Price per message

    The least expensive Gemini model is Gemini 3.8 Flash (250 messages a month on Pro); the least expensive GLM model is GLM 5.3 Flash (60 messages a day on Pro).

  • Context window

    Both go up to 1.05M tokens of context (Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) and GLM 5.3).

  • Images and PDFs

    GLM 5.3 doesn't read images. GLM 5.3 and GLM 5.3 Flash get a PDF's text rather than the file itself.

  • On the Free plan

    Free's one-time trial of 5 messages covers Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview), Gemini 3.8 Flash, GLM 5.3, and GLM 5.3 Flash. Paid plans have every model, with messages every month.

Model by model

Two named models side by side, prompt by prompt, each with its messages on every plan.

More head-to-heads

Each of Gemini and GLM against the other families, every job from the same test runs.

Where your messages go

In llmwise, a message to Gemini goes to its maker, Google, or through OpenRouter when llmwise can't reach the maker directly. GLM models are served only through OpenRouter, by endpoints that don't store or train on prompts. The Privacy Policy has the details.

Questions

Which is better, Gemini or GLM?

In our test runs on September 27, 2026, the same 50 prompts across 10 jobs: Gemini's 2 models passed 95 of 100 replies and GLM's 2 models passed 88 of 100 replies. Job by job, both families' best models shared the top result on 9 of the 10 jobs; Gemini's alone had it on summarization.

Which is cheaper, Gemini or GLM?

In llmwise, the least expensive Gemini model is Gemini 3.8 Flash (250 messages a month on Pro), and the least expensive GLM model is GLM 5.3 Flash (60 messages a day on Pro). At API list prices (September 2026), a typical message of 4,000 tokens in and 700 out costs $0.0056 on Gemini 3.8 Flash and $0.0010 on GLM 5.3 Flash.

Can I use Gemini and GLM in the same chat?

Yes. Pick a model for each message; when you switch, the next model sees the whole conversation, including the other one's answers.

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.