Model comparison

GLM-5 vs Grok 4.1 Fast

GLM-5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.9 to 40.9 on the Noometry Index. Grok 4.1 Fast costs 5.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Last verified . 27 shared benchmarks.

GLM-5 Z.ai (Zhipu)

45.9

Rank #59 Confirmed

Grok 4.1 Fast xAI

40.9

Rank #131 Confirmed

Summary

  • They share 27 benchmarks with published results for both. GLM-5 scores higher in 7 categories and Grok 4.1 Fast in 2 categories; 9 gaps are clear of the uncertainty.
  • The widest gap is in knowledge, where GLM-5 leads 52.2 to 32.6.
  • The biggest single-benchmark swing is NYT Connections (extended): 74.8% for GLM-5 and 87.4% for Grok 4.1 Fast.
  • Grok 4.1 Fast is cheaper at $0.20 / $0.50 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $3.20 for GLM-5.
  • GLM-5 accepts more context: 205K tokens versus 128K.
  • GLM-5 has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

Side by side

GLM-5 and Grok 4.1 Fast specifications
GLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
ProviderZ.ai (Zhipu)xAI
Noometry Index45.940.9
Released2026-02-112025-06-27
WeightsOpenProprietary
Context window205K128K
Max output131K30K
Input $ / M tokens$1$0.20
Output $ / M tokens$3.20$0.50
Results tracked4532

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Category by category

Coding GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 49.0 (#47), Grok 4.1 Fast: 33.8 (#236)

Coding benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
LMArena WebDev14341241
LMArena Coding14611411
ALE-Bench765.62394.93
SWE-bench Verified72.1%—
SWE-bench Verified (bash only)72.8%—
SWE-bench Multilingual69.7%—
WeirdML48.2%—

Agentic & Tool Use Grok 4.1 Fast leads

GLM-5: 30.9 (#65), Grok 4.1 Fast: 36.1 (#35)

Agentic & Tool Use benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
τ²-bench Banking9.8%13.1%
Vending-Bench 24,4321,107
Terminal-Bench52.4%—
Berkeley Function Calling Leaderboard—69.6%
τ²-bench Airline82.5%—
τ²-bench Retail73.7%—
τ²-bench Telecom86.8%—
LMArena Search—1171

Reasoning Grok 4.1 Fast leads

GLM-5: 27.6 (#100), Grok 4.1 Fast: 42.3 (#45)

Reasoning benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
SimpleBench53.2%56%
NYT Connections (extended)74.8%87.4%
LMArena Hard Prompts14511407
ForecastBench6161
ARC-AGI-24.9%—
Kagi LLM Benchmark75%—
ARC-AGI-144.7%—
Chess Puzzles10%—
DTBench—87.7%
Epoch Capabilities Index145.84—

Math GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 44.8 (#66), Grok 4.1 Fast: 30.9 (#201)

Knowledge GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 52.2 (#59), Grok 4.1 Fast: 32.6 (#203)

Knowledge benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
Vectara Hallucination Rate10.1%17.8%
LMArena Expert14541398
GPQA Diamond87.8%—

Multimodal Not comparable

GLM-5: —, Grok 4.1 Fast: 36.3 (#71)

Multimodal benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
LMArena Vision—1201

Multilingual GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 53.9 (#57), Grok 4.1 Fast: 51.1 (#110)

Multilingual benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
LMArena Non-English14301391
LMArena Chinese15111441
LMArena French14551416
LMArena German14451404
LMArena Japanese14161347
LMArena Korean14211361
LMArena Russian14361387
LMArena Spanish14521411

Instruction Following GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 75.4 (#64), Grok 4.1 Fast: 72.8 (#127)

Instruction Following benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
LMArena Instruction Following14271376

Long Context GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 44.6 (#58), Grok 4.1 Fast: 42.4 (#121)

Long Context benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
LMArena Longer Query14461390
CL-bench18.7%—

Writing & Preference GLM-5 leads

GLM-5: 66.2 (#38), Grok 4.1 Fast: 57.4 (#126)

Writing & Preference benchmarks
BenchmarkGLM-5Grok 4.1 Fast
LMArena Text14461408
LMArena Creative Writing14381394
EQ-Bench Creative Writing16011327
LMArena Multi-Turn14561389

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM-5 better than Grok 4.1 Fast?

GLM-5 is the stronger model overall, scoring 45.9 to 40.9 on the Noometry Index. Grok 4.1 Fast costs 5.6× less per token, which makes it the better buy when GLM-5's lead doesn't matter for your workload.

Which is cheaper, GLM-5 or Grok 4.1 Fast?

Grok 4.1 Fast is cheaper. It lists at $0.20 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens; GLM-5 lists at $1 and $3.20.

Is GLM-5 or Grok 4.1 Fast better for coding?

GLM-5 scores higher on coding benchmarks: 49.0 versus 33.8 in the Noometry coding category.

Which has the bigger context window?

GLM-5 does, with 205K tokens against 128K.

How many benchmarks do GLM-5 and Grok 4.1 Fast share?

27 benchmarks have published results for both models. GLM-5 has 45 scored results on Noometry and Grok 4.1 Fast has 32.

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