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GLM 5.3 vs Inkling Small

GLM 5.3 leads Inkling Small on coding, 70.6 to 27.3 on the Vibe Coding Index, and Inkling Small costs 3.7x less per output token ($1.20 vs $4.40 per million). Updated October 22, 2026; 69 benchmarks have a result for both.

Replace GLM 5.3 Replace Inkling Small
GLM 5.3Z.ai
Coding
70.6
Overall
67.9
Output $/M
$4.40
67
T Inkling SmallThinking Machines
Coding
27.3
Overall
43.6
Output $/M
$1.20
2
vs boards won of 69 shared

GLM 5.3 or Inkling Small: which to pick

Pick GLM 5.3 for coding: it scores 70.6 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small.

Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 3.7x cheaper ($1.20 vs $4.40 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $0.36).

Model AGLM 5.3Z.ai70.6/1006 independent benchmarks$0.36 per solved taskModel BInkling SmallThinking Machines27.3/1004 independent benchmarks$0.16 per solved task
Shared results
69
GLM 5.3 only
31
Inkling Small only
15
Like-for-like categories
7 of 9

Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.

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.

At a glance

Coding index
GLM 5.3 70.6 from 6 benchmarks, Inkling Small 27.3 from 4 benchmarks.
Widest category
Coding, 23.6 points apart on average over 17 shared benchmarks.
Widest single gap
IOI (Vals AI): GLM 5.3 68.4% against Inkling Small 9.3%, 59.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
Output price
GLM 5.3 $4.40 against Inkling Small $1.20 per million output tokens, 3.7x apart.
Context window
GLM 5.3 takes 1.05M tokens, Inkling Small 524K.

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.

Boards won, where both have a result
CategoryGLM 5.3BarsInkling SmallTies
Coding161
Intelligence20
Agentic work60
Reasoning80
Math60
Knowledge81
General210
All shared boards672
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index161
Coding benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
LiveBench coding82.8%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
LMArena WebDev16211409GLM 5.3
AA Coding Index74.852.9GLM 5.3
LiveCodeBench (Vals AI)80.5%85.9%Inkling Small
SWE-bench Verified (Vals AI)95.4%82.2%GLM 5.3
Terminal-Bench 4 (Vals AI)38.9%0.0%GLM 5.3
Vibe Code Bench (Vals AI)78.1%19.1%GLM 5.3
Code migration (Vals AI)44.2%13.7%GLM 5.3
ProgramBench (Vals AI)1.5%0.5%GLM 5.3
IOI (Vals AI)68.4%9.3%GLM 5.3
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals AI)71.5%55.1%GLM 5.3
Vibe Code Bench 1-100 (Vals AI)20.0%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
SkillsBench (Vals AI)47.5%33.6%GLM 5.3
CyberBench (Vals AI)72.1%64.1%GLM 5.3
SciCode59.0%49.7%GLM 5.3
FrontierCode40.1%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
FrontierSWE30.2%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
WeirdML75.4%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
ALE-Bench1317.4Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
LMArena Text: coding14971450GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: software and IT14931447GLM 5.3
LMArena WebDev: React16411399GLM 5.3
LMArena WebDev: HTML15951398GLM 5.3
LMArena WebDev: from an imageNot measured1410Only Inkling Small measured
Neither model has a result on the other 15 boards here
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index20
Intelligence benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
AA Intelligence Index44.825.7GLM 5.3
Epoch Capabilities Index156.0150.3GLM 5.3
Agentic workLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60
Agentic work benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
AA Agentic Index53.123.5GLM 5.3
Design Arena: agents building mobile apps1194Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: HTML slides1189Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: PowerPoint slides1230Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
LiveBench research73.2%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
LiveBench browser0.0%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
LiveBench long agentic35.9%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
SREBench (Vals AI)9.2%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Finance Agent (Vals AI)55.8%41.3%GLM 5.3
Tax Agent Bench (Vals AI)39.7%15.4%GLM 5.3
Legal Research Bench (Vals AI)49.0%25.5%GLM 5.3
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark (Vals AI)14.6%2.9%GLM 5.3
Excel Modeling Benchmark (Vals AI)56.3%31.8%GLM 5.3
Terminal-Bench-Science (Vals AI)5.7%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
APEX-Agents56.6%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Vending-Bench 2$8,164Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Neither model has a result on the other 25 boards here
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index80
Reasoning benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
GPQA Diamond88.1%83.6%GLM 5.3
LiveBench reasoning85.8%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
MysteryMechanism (Vals AI)23.0%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run)91.7%89.5%GLM 5.3
Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run)42.3%33.3%GLM 5.3
GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run)90.9%88.5%GLM 5.3
ARC-AGINot measured84.0%Only Inkling Small measured
ARC-AGI-2Not measured40.1%Only Inkling Small measured
Chess puzzles37.0%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Mystery game puzzles33.0%6.0%GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: hard prompts14901423GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: expert15141441GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: hard prompts in English14961429GLM 5.3
LMArena Vision: diagramsNot measured1251Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: homeworkNot measured1257Only Inkling Small measured
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
MathLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index60
Math benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
OTIS Mock AIME91.1%90.0%GLM 5.3
FrontierMath, tiers 1 to 368.8%46.3%GLM 5.3
FrontierMath, tier 429.3%17.1%GLM 5.3
ProofBench49.0%6.0%GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: math14951459GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: mathematical work14971441GLM 5.3
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index81
Knowledge benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
MMLU Pro86.8%85.6%GLM 5.3
LegalBench (Vals AI)84.8%83.0%GLM 5.3
CorpFin (Vals AI)Not measured69.6%Only Inkling Small measured
TaxEval (Vals AI)72.4%75.5%Inkling Small
MortgageTax (Vals AI)Not measured62.3%Only Inkling Small measured
MedCode (Vals AI)42.9%37.9%GLM 5.3
SimpleQA Verified41.0%19.1%GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: science14981428GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare14811413GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: legal and government14731415GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: business and finance14591413GLM 5.3
Neither model has a result on the other 7 boards here
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index9 boards, none shared
Web design benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
Design Arena: websites1295Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: UI components1314Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: game dev1311Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: data viz1260Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: 3D1332Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: all code categories1304Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: SVG1294Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Design Arena: ASCII art1208Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
LiveBench design77.3%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
GeneralLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index210
General benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
Vals Index59.7%27.6%GLM 5.3
LiveBench data analysis70.2%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
Public Benefits Bench (Vals AI)68.5%59.4%GLM 5.3
SAGE (Vals AI)Not measured32.7%Only Inkling Small measured
MedScribe (Vals AI)88.8%84.1%GLM 5.3
Vals Multimodal IndexNot measured50.0%Only Inkling Small measured
Long context reasoning (AA-LCR)79.7%75.7%GLM 5.3
DTBench87.7%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
LMCA55.5%Not measuredOnly GLM 5.3 measured
LMArena Text14741413GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: instruction following14791399GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: creative writing14581334GLM 5.3
LMArena VisionNot measured1237Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Text: English14821421GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: non-English14591401GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: Chinese15321464GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: German14881408GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: Japanese14601401GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: Korean14601367GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: French15031435GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: Spanish14621422GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: Russian14691394GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: Polish14661428GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: multi-turn14721416GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: longer queries14831402GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: writing and language14691357GLM 5.3
LMArena Text: entertainment and media14471352GLM 5.3
LMArena Vision: EnglishNot measured1243Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: ChineseNot measured1292Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: reading textNot measured1243Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: humorNot measured1207Only Inkling Small measured
LMArena Vision: creative writingNot measured1205Only Inkling Small measured
Neither model has a result on the other 14 boards here
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
Image generation benchmarks for GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
BenchmarkGLM 5.3Inkling SmallLeader
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$0.0036Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.0010Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Repository review

50K input + 3K output tokens

GLM 5.3$0.083Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.026Fits in one request

Inkling Small costs less

Agent loop

200K input + 10K output tokens

GLM 5.3$0.324Fits in one request
Inkling Small$0.102Fits in one request

Inkling Small 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.

Specifications of GLM 5.3 and Inkling Small
SpecificationZ.ai GLM 5.3Thinking Machines Inkling Small
MakerZ.aiThinking Machines
WeightsOpen weightsOpen weights
ReleasedAugust 18, 2026July 30, 2026
Context window1.05M524K
Input $/Mtok$1.40$0.45
Output $/Mtok$4.40$1.20
Coding index70.627.3
Independent measurements behind it64
Cost per solved task$0.36$0.16
SourceOpenRouter listingOpenRouter listing

Questions

Is GLM 5.3 better than Inkling Small for coding?

Pick GLM 5.3 for coding: it scores 70.6 on the Vibe Coding Index against 27.3 for Inkling Small. Pick Inkling Small for output tokens 3.7x cheaper ($1.20 vs $4.40 per million) and a lower cost per solved task ($0.16 against $0.36).

Which is cheaper, GLM 5.3 or Inkling Small?

GLM 5.3 costs $1.40 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens; Inkling Small costs $0.45 and $1.20. Per solved SWE-bench Verified task, GLM 5.3 costs $0.36 and Inkling Small $0.16.

Which has the bigger context window, GLM 5.3 or Inkling Small?

GLM 5.3, with 1.05M tokens against 524K.

How many benchmarks is the GLM 5.3 vs Inkling Small comparison based on?

69 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 22, 2026. GLM 5.3's coding index rests on 6 independent benchmarks and Inkling Small's on 4. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.

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