Model comparison

GLM-5.3 vs GPT-4.1 mini

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 33.6 on the Noometry Index. GPT-4.1 mini costs 3.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 30 shared benchmarks.

GLM-5.3 Z.ai (Zhipu)

54.8

Rank #26 Confirmed

GPT-4.1 mini OpenAI

33.6

Rank #240 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 30 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3 scores higher in 9 categories and GPT-4.1 mini in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in math, where GLM-5.3 leads 62.3 to 24.1.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3): 68.8% for GLM-5.3 and 6.7% for GPT-4.1 mini.
  • GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 / $1.60 per million input/output tokens, against $1.40 / $4.40 for GLM-5.3.
  • GPT-4.1 mini accepts more context: 1.05M tokens versus 1M.
  • GLM-5.3 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

GLM-5.3 and GPT-4.1 mini specifications
GLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
ProviderZ.ai (Zhipu)OpenAI
Noometry Index54.833.6
Released2026-08-142025-04-14
WeightsOpenProprietary
Context window1M1.05M
Max output131K33K
Input $ / M tokens$1.40$0.40
Output $ / M tokens$4.40$1.60
Results tracked4247

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Category by category

Coding GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 59.5 (#14), GPT-4.1 mini: 30.6 (#293)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
SciCode59%40.4%
WeirdML75.4%37.6%
LMArena Coding14961367
DeepSWE69%—
FrontierCode40.1%—
SWE-bench Verified (bash only)—23.9%
Aider Polyglot—32.4%
CursorBench42.6%—
LMArena WebDev1622—
FrontierSWE30.2%—
BigCodeBench Instruct—48.9%
CadEval—16%
ALE-Bench1,317—

Agentic & Tool Use GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 36.4 (#38), GPT-4.1 mini: 33.3 (#55)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
APEX-Agents56.6%—
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard—50.5%
Vending-Bench 28,164—

Reasoning GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 46.1 (#46), GPT-4.1 mini: 10.8 (#340)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
CritPt19.1%0%
Chess Puzzles21%7%
LMArena Hard Prompts14891349
Mystery Game Puzzles33%7%
DTBench87.7%68.8%
LMCA55.5%21.1%
Epoch Capabilities Index155.61135.01
ARC-AGI-2—0%
Kagi LLM Benchmark—48.6%
NYT Connections (extended)74.2%—
ARC-AGI-1—3.5%
Bench to the Future 30.15—

Math GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 62.3 (#33), GPT-4.1 mini: 24.1 (#270)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)68.8%6.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202591.1%44.7%
LMArena Math14891343
FrontierMath Tier 429.3%—
ProofBench49%—
Omni-MATH—49.1%
MATH Level 5—87.3%
FrontierMath (Feb 2025 set)—4.5%

Knowledge GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#37), GPT-4.1 mini: 34.7 (#194)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
GPQA Diamond90.9%65.8%
SimpleQA Verified41%12.7%
LMArena Expert15161338
MMLU-Pro—78.3%
GPQA (HELM)—61.4%

Multimodal Not comparable

GLM-5.3: —, GPT-4.1 mini: 35.8 (#82)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
LMArena Vision—1181

Multilingual GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 55.7 (#28), GPT-4.1 mini: 45.7 (#166)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
LMArena Non-English14571318
LMArena Chinese15281329
LMArena French14991358
LMArena German14991351
LMArena Japanese14531290
LMArena Korean14721298
LMArena Russian14631324
LMArena Spanish14601319

Instruction Following GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 77.5 (#23), GPT-4.1 mini: 73.7 (#118)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
LMArena Instruction Following14771333
IFEval—90.4%

Long Context GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 45.4 (#41), GPT-4.1 mini: 31.8 (#275)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
LMArena Longer Query14821344
Fiction.LiveBench—44.4%

Writing & Preference GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 75.7 (#6), GPT-4.1 mini: 48.6 (#199)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3GPT-4.1 mini
LMArena Text14711340
LMArena Creative Writing14571300
EQ-Bench Creative Writing20751147
LMArena Multi-Turn14721354
WildBench—83.8%

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM-5.3 better than GPT-4.1 mini?

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 33.6 on the Noometry Index. GPT-4.1 mini costs 3.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3 or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper. It lists at $0.40 per million input tokens and $1.60 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.

Is GLM-5.3 or GPT-4.1 mini better for coding?

GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.5 versus 30.6 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-4.1 mini does, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.

How many benchmarks do GLM-5.3 and GPT-4.1 mini share?

30 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 42 scored results on Noometry and GPT-4.1 mini has 47.

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