Product
GLM-5.3: specs, API pricing and data
Updated
Z.aiAI Models & LLMs
- Context window
- 1M tokens
- Maximum output
- 128k tokens
- Input cost per 1M tokens
- $1.40
- Output cost per 1M tokens
- $4.40
- Open weights (downloadable)
- Yes
Data sheet · GLM-5.3
Every figure is quoted from the vendor's official page, with the date we read it. If a row is missing, the source does not state it and we do not estimate it.
Memory and answer length
- Context window
- 1M tokensRank 8 of 21
What it means and the source
How much text the model keeps in view in a single request, question and answer included. It matters for long documents and whole code projects. A token is a fragment of a word.
docs.z.aiOpens the source in a new tab Oct 23, 2026- Maximum output
- 128k tokensRank 3 of 16
What it means and the source
The longest answer it can write in one go: useful for reports, long code or translations of whole documents.
docs.z.aiOpens the source in a new tab Oct 23, 2026
API prices
- Input cost per 1M tokens
- $1.40Rank 9 of 21
What it means and the source
What it costs to have the model read a million tokens (your question, the documents, the code). It is the official list price, before discounts.
docs.z.aiOpens the source in a new tab Oct 23, 2026- Cached input cost per 1M tokens
- $0.26Rank 15 of 20
What it means and the source
The reduced price when part of the request is identical to one sent recently, for example the same instructions or the same document: the vendor keeps it in memory and charges less for it.
docs.z.aiOpens the source in a new tab Oct 23, 2026- Output cost per 1M tokens
- $4.40Rank 8 of 21
What it means and the source
What a million tokens written by the model cost. It usually costs more than the input and is the figure to watch when answers are long.
docs.z.aiOpens the source in a new tab Oct 23, 2026
Size and openness
- Parameters
- 753 billion
What it means and the source
The size of the network: how many billions of learned values make it up. Bigger does not necessarily mean better, but it tells how much hardware it takes to run it yourself.
huggingface.coOpens the source in a new tab Oct 23, 2026- Open weights (downloadable)
- Yes7 models out of 23
What it means and the source
The model's weights can be downloaded: you can run it on your own servers, adapt it and decide where the data stays, within the licence terms.
huggingface.coOpens the source in a new tab Oct 23, 2026
Hardware to try AI at home
GLM-5.3: just holding the weights in memory takes about 1,506 GB at 16-bit, 753 GB at 8-bit, 376.5 GB at 4-bit. Beyond 24 GB it is not a home-PC job: using it through an API makes more sense.Worked out from the billions of parameters the vendor states, not a measurement: context and the runtime need more memory.
Questions and answers
GLM-5.3: how much does it cost through the API?
The official list price is $1.40 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens.
GLM-5.3: how much text can it read at once?
The context window is 1M tokens. It can write answers of up to 128k tokens.
GLM-5.3: can I run it on my own computer?
Yes, the vendor publishes the model's weights. Parameters: 753 billion. Holding them in memory takes about 376.5 GB at 4-bit; context and the runtime need more memory.
The short version
On Z.ai GLM-5.3 the figure that actually matters is Context window: 1M. I took that figure from Z.ai – GLM-5.3. Among the 21 I checked, 7 do better. The other figure to look at is Output cost per 1M tokens: 4.4.
The numbers on Z.ai GLM-5.3
I put them in order of importance, with the value and the standing against the others I checked.
Context window: 1M. Rank 8 of the 21 I compared.
Output cost per 1M tokens: 4.4. Rank 8 of the 21 I compared.
Input cost per 1M tokens: 1.4. Rank 9 of the 21 I compared.
Cached input cost per 1M tokens (USD): 0.26. Rank 6 of the 20 I compared.
Maximum output (k tokens): 128K tokens. Rank 3 of the 16 I compared.
Open weights (downloadable): 1. That is the best value among the 7 I compared.
Who it is for
Take it if Open weights (downloadable) is your priority: 1, and none of the ones I checked does better.
Look elsewhere if what matters to you is Context window: here it is 1M, and 7 products do better.
Explore related coverage
Sources
Ask Sir Compare:Explain these numbers to me
Reviews and tests
Z.ai GLM-5.3
Reviews and tests · Z.ai GLM-5.3
Reviews are not available yet.
What changed
- Page updated
- Page updated