GLM 5.3 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Updated October 21, 2026. 93 benchmarks have a result for both. Coding is ranked on the Vibe Coding Index; every other board is shown as published.
Decision reading
Pick GLM 5.3 Flash for coding: it scores 71.0 on the Vibe Coding Index against 63.5 for Qwen3.8 Max (0902).
Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) when what matters is LMArena WebDev or AA Coding Index, where it leads.
- Shared results
- 93
- GLM 5.3 Flash only
- 9
- Qwen3.8 Max (0902) only
- 20
- Like-for-like categories
- 8 of 9
Shared results can support a head-to-head reading. Results only one model has describe coverage, not superiority.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, four public coding benchmarks
GLM 5.3 Flash
GLM 5.3 Flash scores 71.0 against 63.5.
2 benchmarks behind each score
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 45.4 against 41.8.
Same board, both measured
Agentic work
AA Agentic Index
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 56.0 against 50.9.
Same board, both measured
Reasoning
GPQA Diamond
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 93.7% against 86.4%.
Same board, both measured
Knowledge
MMLU Pro
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 88.6% against 86.1%.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen3.8 Max (0902) leads, 1275 against 1272.
Same board, both measured
General
Vals Index
No call
Only GLM 5.3 Flash has a Vals Index result, 50.9%.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
GLM 5.3 Flash
GLM 5.3 Flash takes 1.05M tokens against 1M.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
GLM 5.3 Flash
GLM 5.3 Flash $0.0004, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $0.0050 per turn.
List prices
Cost per solved task
One SWE-bench Verified task, solved
GLM 5.3 Flash
GLM 5.3 Flash $0.02, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $1.32.
Published attempt cost and pass rate
At a glance
- Coding index
- GLM 5.3 Flash 71.0 from 2 benchmarks, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 63.5 from 2 benchmarks.
- Widest category
- Math, 15.4 points apart on average over 6 shared benchmarks.
- Widest single gap
- LiveBench browser: GLM 5.3 Flash 84.0% against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 32.0%, 52.0 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- GLM 5.3 Flash $0.50 against Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $6.00 per million output tokens, 12.0x apart.
- Context window
- GLM 5.3 Flash takes 1.05M tokens, Qwen3.8 Max (0902) 1M.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | GLM 5.3 Flash | Bars | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 8 | 12 | 1 tie | |
| Intelligence | 0 | 2 | ||
| Agentic work | 3 | 7 | ||
| Reasoning | 1 | 12 | ||
| Math | 2 | 4 | ||
| Knowledge | 2 | 5 | ||
| Web design | 1 | 7 | ||
| General | 2 | 24 | ||
| All shared boards | 19 | 73 | 1 tie |
CodingLike-for-likeFour of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index812
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveBench coding | 80.6% | 60.3% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev | 1607 | 1674 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| AA Coding Index | 71.5 | 76.2 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals AI) | 80.5% | 87.8% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI) | 92.0% | 85.6% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI) | 37.4% | 34.3% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI) | 30.8% | 64.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Code migration (Vals AI) | 20.5% | 24.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| ProgramBench (Vals AI) | 0.0% | 0.0% | Tie |
| IOI (Vals AI) | 52.5% | 68.9% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI) | 62.9% | 67.4% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| SWE-bench Multimodal (Vals AI) | Not measured | 42.5% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI) | 16.0% | 12.8% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| SkillsBench (Vals AI) | 40.2% | 42.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| CyberBench (Vals AI) | 67.9% | 28.6% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| SciCode | 51.6% | 53.2% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| FrontierCode | 31.8% | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| FrontierSWE | 18.1% | 17.8% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| ALE-Bench | 303.6 | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | 1507 | 1502 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | 1500 | 1498 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LMArena WebDev: React | 1624 | 1692 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena WebDev: HTML | 1577 | 1649 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena WebDev: from an image | 1578 | 1637 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index02
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 41.8 | 45.4 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | 153.1 | 157.4 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index37
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Agentic Index | 50.9 | 56.0 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: agents building web apps | Not measured | 1301 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building full-stack apps | Not measured | 1305 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building mobile apps | Not measured | 1223 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Android apps | Not measured | 1207 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: agents building Godot games | Not measured | 1234 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: PowerPoint slides | Not measured | 1257 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Design Arena: spreadsheets | Not measured | 868 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LiveBench research | 70.1% | 69.9% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LiveBench browser | 84.0% | 32.0% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LiveBench long agentic | 28.4% | 42.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| SREBench (Vals AI) | 0.8% | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| Finance Agent (Vals AI) | 57.9% | 50.6% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI) | 31.6% | 32.1% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Legal Research Bench (Vals AI) | 45.2% | 47.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI) | 10.4% | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI) | 55.9% | 60.1% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI) | 2.9% | 12.9% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| APEX-Agents | 52.8% | 63.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Search | Not measured | 1261 | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 19 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index112
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond | 86.4% | 93.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LiveBench reasoning | 77.6% | 88.2% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| MysteryMechanism (Vals AI) | Not measured | 23.9% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MMMU Pro (Vals AI) | 86.0% | 88.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 91.2% | 92.8% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 39.9% | 43.1% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | 90.2% | 92.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| ARC-AGI | 91.0% | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| ARC-AGI-2 | 65.8% | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| Chess puzzles | 21.0% | 46.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Mystery game puzzles | 8.0% | 38.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | 1490 | 1496 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: expert | 1511 | 1507 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | 1488 | 1503 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: diagrams | 1317 | 1323 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: homework | 1318 | 1336 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Neither model has a result on the other 5 boards here | |||
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index24
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTIS Mock AIME | 93.9% | 100.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 3 | 55.8% | 74.7% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| FrontierMath, tier 4 | 17.1% | 46.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| ProofBench | 21.0% | 58.0% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: math | 1503 | 1501 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | 1497 | 1491 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index25
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro | 86.1% | 88.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LegalBench (Vals AI) | 83.9% | 83.6% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| CorpFin (Vals AI) | Not measured | 65.8% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| TaxEval (Vals AI) | 75.6% | 75.5% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| MortgageTax (Vals AI) | Not measured | 64.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MedCode (Vals AI) | Not measured | 40.7% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SimpleQA Verified | Not measured | 47.3% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text: science | 1484 | 1512 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | 1475 | 1503 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | 1473 | 1492 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | 1460 | 1480 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Neither model has a result on the other 6 boards here | |||
Web designLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index17
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | 1272 | 1275 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: UI components | 1316 | 1340 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: game dev | 1279 | 1313 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: data viz | 1262 | 1281 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: 3D | 1316 | 1337 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: all code categories | 1282 | 1293 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Design Arena: SVG | 1284 | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | 1269 | 1201 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LiveBench design | 77.2% | 78.6% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index224
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vals Index | 50.9% | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| LiveBench data analysis | 76.4% | 78.4% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI) | Not measured | 67.1% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| SAGE (Vals AI) | Not measured | 51.2% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| MedScribe (Vals AI) | 88.9% | 85.0% | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Vals Multimodal Index | Not measured | 65.4% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | 80.0% | 80.3% | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| DTBench | Not measured | 92.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 46.2% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| Surface Evolver Bench | 52.5% | Not measured | Only GLM 5.3 Flash measured |
| Furniture assembly | Not measured | 20.0% | Only Qwen3.8 Max (0902) measured |
| LMArena Text | 1471 | 1483 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | 1478 | 1481 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | 1441 | 1477 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision | 1294 | 1313 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: English | 1474 | 1491 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: non-English | 1462 | 1473 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | 1531 | 1539 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: German | 1462 | 1478 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | 1444 | 1473 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: Korean | 1436 | 1460 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: French | 1491 | 1498 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | 1475 | 1489 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: Russian | 1465 | 1482 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: Polish | 1450 | 1471 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | 1469 | 1489 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | 1481 | 1488 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | 1455 | 1477 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | 1440 | 1464 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: English | 1295 | 1311 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: Chinese | 1363 | 1358 | GLM 5.3 Flash |
| LMArena Vision: reading text | 1299 | 1322 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: humor | 1279 | 1304 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| LMArena Vision: creative writing | 1270 | 1312 | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
| Neither model has a result on the other 12 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
GLM 5.3 Flash costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
GLM 5.3 Flash costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
GLM 5.3 Flash costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Z.ai GLM 5.3 Flash | Qwen3.8 Max (0902) |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Z.ai | Qwen |
| Weights | Open weights | No public weights listed |
| Released | August 26, 2026 | September 3, 2026 |
| Context window | 1.05M | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $0.15 | $2.00 |
| Output $/Mtok | $0.50 | $6.00 |
| Coding index | 71.0 | 63.5 |
| Independent measurements behind it | 2 | 2 |
| Cost per solved task | $0.02 | $1.32 |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is GLM 5.3 Flash better than Qwen3.8 Max (0902) for coding?
Pick GLM 5.3 Flash for coding: it scores 71.0 on the Vibe Coding Index against 63.5 for Qwen3.8 Max (0902). Pick Qwen3.8 Max (0902) when what matters is LMArena WebDev or AA Coding Index, where it leads.
Which is cheaper, GLM 5.3 Flash or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens; Qwen3.8 Max (0902) costs $2.00 and $6.00. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.02 and Qwen3.8 Max (0902) $1.32.
Which has the bigger context window, GLM 5.3 Flash or Qwen3.8 Max (0902)?
GLM 5.3 Flash, with 1.05M tokens against 1M.
How many benchmarks is the GLM 5.3 Flash vs Qwen3.8 Max (0902) comparison based on?
93 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. GLM 5.3 Flash's coding index rests on 2 independent benchmarks and Qwen3.8 Max (0902)'s on 2. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.