Model comparison
GLM-5.3 vs Granite 4.2 8B
GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 20× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 11 shared benchmarks.
Summary
- They share 11 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3 scores higher in 7 categories and Granite 4.2 8B in 0 categories; 7 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in writing & preference, where GLM-5.3 leads 75.7 to 49.6.
- Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper at $0.06 / $0.25 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 | Granite 4.2 8B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Z.ai (Zhipu) | IBM |
| Noometry Index | 54.8 | 40.5 |
| Released | 2026-08-14 | — |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 1M | 131K |
| Max output | 131K | 118K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1.40 | $0.06 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $4.40 | $0.25 |
| Results tracked | 42 | 11 |
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Category by category
Coding GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 59.5 (#14), Granite 4.2 8B: 40.5 (#137)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Coding | 1496 | 1380 |
| DeepSWE | 69% | — |
| FrontierCode | 40.1% | — |
| CursorBench | 42.6% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1622 | — |
| FrontierSWE | 30.2% | — |
| SciCode | 59% | — |
| WeirdML | 75.4% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,317 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 36.4 (#38), Granite 4.2 8B: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 56.6% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 8,164 | — |
Reasoning GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 46.1 (#46), Granite 4.2 8B: 26.6 (#131)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1489 | 1329 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 74.2% | — |
| CritPt | 19.1% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 21% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 33% | — |
| DTBench | 87.7% | — |
| LMCA | 55.5% | — |
| Bench to the Future 3 | 0.15 | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 155.61 | — |
Math Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 62.3 (#33), Granite 4.2 8B: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 68.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 29.3% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 91.1% | — |
| ProofBench | 49% | — |
| LMArena Math | 1489 | — |
Knowledge GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#37), Granite 4.2 8B: 38.4 (#145)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | 1516 | 1384 |
| GPQA Diamond | 90.9% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 41% | — |
Multilingual GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 55.7 (#28), Granite 4.2 8B: 44.5 (#178)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1457 | 1302 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1528 | 1366 |
| LMArena Russian | 1463 | 1285 |
| LMArena French | 1499 | — |
| LMArena German | 1499 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1453 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1472 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1460 | — |
Instruction Following GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 77.5 (#23), Granite 4.2 8B: 68.7 (#184)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1477 | 1301 |
Long Context GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 45.4 (#41), Granite 4.2 8B: 40.3 (#159)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1482 | 1324 |
Writing & Preference GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 75.7 (#6), Granite 4.2 8B: 49.6 (#189)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Granite 4.2 8B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1471 | 1320 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1457 | 1236 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1472 | 1301 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 2075 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is GLM-5.3 better than Granite 4.2 8B?
GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 40.5 on the Noometry Index. Granite 4.2 8B costs 20× 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 Granite 4.2 8B?
Granite 4.2 8B is cheaper. It lists at $0.06 per million input tokens and $0.25 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.
Is GLM-5.3 or Granite 4.2 8B better for coding?
GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.5 versus 40.5 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 Granite 4.2 8B share?
11 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 42 scored results on Noometry and Granite 4.2 8B has 11.