Model comparison

GLM-5.3 vs gpt-oss-20b

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 32.5 on the Noometry Index. gpt-oss-20b costs 60× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 27 shared benchmarks.

GLM-5.3 Z.ai (Zhipu)

54.8

Rank #26 Confirmed

gpt-oss-20b OpenAI

32.5

Rank #255 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 27 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3 scores higher in 9 categories and gpt-oss-20b in 0 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in writing & preference, where GLM-5.3 leads 75.7 to 35.5.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is LMCA: 55.5% for GLM-5.3 and 14.5% for gpt-oss-20b.
  • gpt-oss-20b is cheaper at $0.018 / $0.09 per million input/output tokens, against $1.40 / $4.40 for GLM-5.3.
  • GLM-5.3 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 131K.

Side by side

GLM-5.3 and gpt-oss-20b specifications
GLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
ProviderZ.ai (Zhipu)OpenAI
Noometry Index54.832.5
Released2026-08-142025-08-05
WeightsOpenOpen
Context window1M131K
Max output131K16K
Input $ / M tokens$1.40$0.018
Output $ / M tokens$4.40$0.09
Results tracked4234

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Category by category

Coding GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 59.5 (#14), gpt-oss-20b: 37.6 (#192)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
SciCode59%34.4%
WeirdML75.4%40.9%
LMArena Coding14961306
ALE-Bench1,317566.05
DeepSWE69%—
FrontierCode40.1%—
CursorBench42.6%—
LMArena WebDev1622—
FrontierSWE30.2%—

Agentic & Tool Use GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 36.4 (#38), gpt-oss-20b: 9.3 (#154)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
Terminal-Bench—3.4%
APEX-Agents56.6%—
Vending-Bench 28,164—

Reasoning GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 46.1 (#46), gpt-oss-20b: 19.3 (#261)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
CritPt19.1%1.4%
Chess Puzzles21%4%
LMArena Hard Prompts14891274
DTBench87.7%68%
LMCA55.5%14.5%
Epoch Capabilities Index155.61137.82
Kagi LLM Benchmark—53.2%
NYT Connections (extended)74.2%—
Mystery Game Puzzles33%—
Bench to the Future 30.15—

Math GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 62.3 (#33), gpt-oss-20b: 39.4 (#103)

Math benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
OTIS Mock AIME 2024-202591.1%65.3%
LMArena Math14891317
FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3)68.8%—
FrontierMath Tier 429.3%—
ProofBench49%—
Omni-MATH—56.5%

Knowledge GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#37), gpt-oss-20b: 34.6 (#195)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
GPQA Diamond90.9%60.8%
LMArena Expert15161258
SimpleQA Verified41%—
MMLU-Pro—74%
GPQA (HELM)—59.4%

Multilingual GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 55.7 (#28), gpt-oss-20b: 42.2 (#197)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
LMArena Non-English14571268
LMArena Chinese15281314
LMArena German14991255
LMArena Japanese14531244
LMArena Korean14721236
LMArena Russian14631278
LMArena Spanish14601267
LMArena French1499—

Instruction Following GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 77.5 (#23), gpt-oss-20b: 61.8 (#240)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
LMArena Instruction Following14771236
IFEval—73.2%

Long Context GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 45.4 (#41), gpt-oss-20b: 37.9 (#209)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
LMArena Longer Query14821250

Writing & Preference GLM-5.3 leads

GLM-5.3: 75.7 (#6), gpt-oss-20b: 35.5 (#265)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5.3gpt-oss-20b
LMArena Text14711287
LMArena Creative Writing14571201
EQ-Bench Creative Writing2075666
LMArena Multi-Turn14721268
WildBench—73.7%

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM-5.3 better than gpt-oss-20b?

GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 32.5 on the Noometry Index. gpt-oss-20b costs 60× 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-oss-20b?

gpt-oss-20b is cheaper. It lists at $0.018 per million input tokens and $0.09 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.

Is GLM-5.3 or gpt-oss-20b better for coding?

GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.5 versus 37.6 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

GLM-5.3 does, with 1M tokens against 131K.

How many benchmarks do GLM-5.3 and gpt-oss-20b share?

27 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 42 scored results on Noometry and gpt-oss-20b has 34.

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