Model comparison
GLM-5.3 vs Sonar
GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 38.5 on the Noometry Index. Sonar costs 2.1× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5.3's lead doesn't matter for your workload.
Last verified . 0 shared benchmarks.
PerplexitySummary
- The widest gap is in math, where GLM-5.3 leads 62.3 to 33.7.
- Sonar is cheaper at $1 / $1 per million input/output tokens, against $1.40 / $4.40 for GLM-5.3.
- GLM-5.3 accepts more context: 1M tokens versus 128K.
- GLM-5.3 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.
Side by side
| GLM-5.3 | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Z.ai (Zhipu) | Perplexity |
| Noometry Index | 54.8 | 38.5 |
| Released | 2026-08-14 | 2024-01-01 |
| Weights | Open | Proprietary |
| Context window | 1M | 128K |
| Max output | 131K | 4K |
| Input $ / M tokens | $1.40 | $1 |
| Output $ / M tokens | $4.40 | $1 |
| Results tracked | 42 | 7 |
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Category by category
Coding GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 59.5 (#14), Sonar: 35.7 (#221)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSWE | 69% | — |
| FrontierCode | 40.1% | — |
| CursorBench | 42.6% | — |
| LMArena WebDev | 1622 | — |
| FrontierSWE | 30.2% | — |
| SciCode | 59% | — |
| WeirdML | 75.4% | — |
| LiveBench Coding | — | 35.1% |
| LMArena Coding | 1496 | — |
| ALE-Bench | 1,317 | — |
Agentic & Tool Use Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 36.4 (#38), Sonar: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| APEX-Agents | 56.6% | — |
| Vending-Bench 2 | 8,164 | — |
Reasoning GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 46.1 (#46), Sonar: 21.1 (#227)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections (extended) | 74.2% | — |
| CritPt | 19.1% | — |
| Chess Puzzles | 21% | — |
| LiveBench Reasoning | — | 46.3% |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | 1489 | — |
| Mystery Game Puzzles | 33% | — |
| DTBench | 87.7% | — |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | — | 37.9% |
| LMCA | 55.5% | — |
| Bench to the Future 3 | 0.15 | — |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 155.61 | — |
| LiveBench | — | 46.9% |
Math GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 62.3 (#33), Sonar: 33.7 (#200)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| FrontierMath (Tiers 1-3) | 68.8% | — |
| FrontierMath Tier 4 | 29.3% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024-2025 | 91.1% | — |
| ProofBench | 49% | — |
| LiveBench Math | — | 41.6% |
| LMArena Math | 1489 | — |
Knowledge Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 58.3 (#37), Sonar: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 90.9% | — |
| SimpleQA Verified | 41% | — |
| LMArena Expert | 1516 | — |
Multilingual Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 55.7 (#28), Sonar: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | 1457 | — |
| LMArena Chinese | 1528 | — |
| LMArena French | 1499 | — |
| LMArena German | 1499 | — |
| LMArena Japanese | 1453 | — |
| LMArena Korean | 1472 | — |
| LMArena Russian | 1463 | — |
| LMArena Spanish | 1460 | — |
Instruction Following GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 77.5 (#23), Sonar: 71.4 (#150)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Instruction Following | — | 76.2% |
| LMArena Instruction Following | 1477 | — |
Long Context Not comparable
GLM-5.3: 45.4 (#41), Sonar: —
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | 1482 | — |
Writing & Preference GLM-5.3 leads
GLM-5.3: 75.7 (#6), Sonar: 52.6 (#167)
| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | 1471 | — |
| LMArena Creative Writing | 1457 | — |
| EQ-Bench Creative Writing | 2075 | — |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | 1472 | — |
| LiveBench Language | — | 44.1% |
Frequently asked questions
Is GLM-5.3 better than Sonar?
GLM-5.3 is the stronger model overall, scoring 54.8 to 38.5 on the Noometry Index. Sonar costs 2.1× 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 Sonar?
Sonar is cheaper. It lists at $1 per million input tokens and $1 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3 lists at $1.40 and $4.40.
Is GLM-5.3 or Sonar better for coding?
GLM-5.3 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 59.5 versus 35.7 in the Noometry coding category.
Which has the bigger context window?
GLM-5.3 does, with 1M tokens against 128K.
How many benchmarks do GLM-5.3 and Sonar share?
0 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5.3 has 42 scored results on Noometry and Sonar has 7.