Model comparison
GLM-5.3 vs Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 42.0 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B 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 . 26 shared benchmarks.
Alibaba (Qwen)Summary
- They share 26 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5.3 scores higher in 8 categories and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B in 0 categories; 8 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
- The widest gap is in coding, where GLM-5.3 leads 59.5 to 33.8.
- The biggest single-benchmark swing is SciCode: 59% for GLM-5.3 and 29.3% for Qwen3.5 35B-A3B.
- Qwen3.5 35B-A3B is cheaper at $0.25 / $2 per million input/output tokens, against $1.40 / $4.40 for GLM-5.3.
- GLM-5.3 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 262K.
Side by side
| GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Z.ai (Zhipu) | Alibaba (Qwen) |
| Noometry Index | 54.8 | 42.0 |
| Released | 2026-08-14 | 2026-02-01 |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Context window | 1M | 262K |
| Max output | 131K | 66K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1.40 | $0.25 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $4.40 | $2 |
| Results tracked | 42 | 28 |
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Category by category
Coding GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 59.5 (#14), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 33.8 (#251)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena WebDev | 1622 | 1254 |
| SciCode | 59% | 29.3% |
| LMArena Coding | 1496 | 1410 |
| DeepSWE | 69% | — |
| FrontierCode | 40.1% | — |
| CursorBench | 42.6% | — |
| FrontierSWE | 30.2% | — |
| WeirdML | 75.4% | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,317 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 36.4 (#38), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 56.6% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 8,164 | — |
Reasoning GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 46.1 (#46), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 24.6 (#161)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| CritPt | 19.1% | 0.6% |
| Chess Puzzles | 21% | 10% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1489 | 1400 |
| DTBench | 87.7% | 80% |
| LMCA | 55.5% | 29.5% |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 155.61 | 142.52 |
| NYT Connections (extended) | 74.2% | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 33% | — |
| Bench to the Future 3 | 0.15 | — |
Math GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 62.3 (#33), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 39.9 (#97)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 91.1% | 70% |
| LMArena Math | 1489 | 1404 |
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 68.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 29.3% | — |
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 56% |
| ProofBench | 49% | — |
Knowledge GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#37), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 47.8 (#79)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 90.9% | 83.5% |
| LMArena Expert | 1516 | 1408 |
| SimpleQA Verified | 41% | — |
| Vectara Hallucination Rate | — | 10.5% |
Multilingual GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 55.7 (#28), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 50.0 (#127)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1457 | 1378 |
| LMArena Chinese | 1528 | 1457 |
| LMArena French | 1499 | 1412 |
| LMArena German | 1499 | 1367 |
| LMArena Japanese | 1453 | 1325 |
| LMArena Korean | 1472 | 1356 |
| LMArena Russian | 1463 | 1376 |
| LMArena Spanish | 1460 | 1392 |
Instruction Following GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 77.5 (#23), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 72.8 (#128)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1477 | 1379 |
Long Context GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 45.4 (#41), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 42.4 (#127)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1482 | 1389 |
Writing & Preference GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 75.7 (#6), Qwen3.5 35B-A3B: 57.9 (#124)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Qwen3.5 35B-A3B |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1471 | 1395 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1457 | 1346 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1472 | 1390 |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 2075 | — |
Frequently asked questions
Is GLM-5.3 better than Qwen3.5 35B-A3B?
GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 42.0 on the Noometry Index. Qwen3.5 35B-A3B 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 Qwen3.5 35B-A3B?
Qwen3.5 35B-A3B is cheaper. It lists at $0.25 per million input tokens and $2 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.
Is GLM-5.3 or Qwen3.5 35B-A3B better for coding?
GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.5 versus 33.8 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
GLM-5.3 does, with 1M tokens against 262K.
How many benchmarks do GLM-5.3 and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B share?
26 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 42 scored results on Noometry and Qwen3.5 35B-A3B has 28.