GLM-5.3-Flash vs Kimi K3.1 Pro
GLM-5.3-Flash and Kimi K3.1 Pro are within three points on the Models at Work leaderboard, which we treat as a tie (75 vs 75). GLM-5.3-Flash is about 15× cheaper per blended million tokens ($0.24 vs $3.68, one figure an Artificial Analysis estimate). On Artificial Analysis' independent Intelligence Index, Kimi K3.1 Pro leads 46 to 28.
| GLM-5.3-Flash · Z.ai | Kimi K3.1 Pro · Moonshot | |
|---|---|---|
| Leaderboard rank | #9 | #10 |
| Score (0–100) | 75 | 75 |
| Tier | Open weights | Open weights |
| Price per 1M tokens | $0.15 in · $0.50 out | $3.68 blended (estimate) |
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Open weights | Yes | Yes |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index | 28 | 46 |
| Arena Text score | 1475 (rank 38) | — |
| Arena WebDev score | 1609 (rank 26) | — |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 (vendor) | — | 65.7% |
| Best for | Cheap agentic coding execution, Bulk document and image processing, Self-hosted multimodal assistants | Self-hosting at scale, Open-weights requirements, Long-context agent work |
Compare source-qualified API rates and a monthly workload example before estimating your bill.
Choose GLM-5.3-Flash if…
- you need cheap agentic coding execution
- you need bulk document and image processing
- you need self-hosted multimodal assistants
Probably the best price-to-intelligence ratio on the market: AA 42 for $0.15/$0.50, MIT-licensed, natively multimodal, 1M context. Not actually fast despite the name; treat it as a cheap executor behind a stronger planner.
Caveats: 'Too slow for execution, despite the name' on Z.ai's own hosting (~60 tok/s); third-party hosts vary. Users report less consistent output than full GLM-5.3; pair it with a planning model. 320B total params: self-hosting still needs a multi-GPU node.
Choose Kimi K3.1 Pro if…
- you need self-hosting at scale
- you need open-weights requirements
- you need long-context agent work
Open weights, 1M context and 46 on the independent index, which puts a self-hostable model within a few points of Gemini 3.8 Flash-class hosted tiers; the catch is a 2.8T-parameter footprint.
Caveats: Weights are under a custom licence with revenue conditions (Moonshot's Hugging Face card), so check it before calling this open source. Price is Artificial Analysis' blended figure, not a vendor list price; Moonshot's sources read gave no API price. A LocalLLaMA poster argues K3.1 is benchmark-tuned; that is one user's claim, not a finding. The only benchmark Moonshot cites (65.7% Terminal-Bench 4.0) is vendor-run and not counted.
What practitioners say
GLM-5.3-Flash: A month-long HN diary ('One month coding with GLM 5.3 Flash', 233 points) spent $68 total; commenters agreed 'a month of agentic coding for $68 is the headline'. The working pattern is 'GLM-5.3 to write the plan, Flash to implement', with one user noting that given an unambiguous plan 'GLM 5.3 Flash executes it just fine'. Negatives: 'too slow for execution, despite the name' on Z.ai hosting, and the full model is 'way more consistent'.
Kimi K3.1 Pro: Early and split: a Hacker News thread on the open-weights release weighs hardware needs, benchmarks and cost, and a LocalLLaMA poster argues the model is benchmark-tuned, citing an audit PDF. Too early to score; sentiment drops out.
Questions people ask
Which is better, GLM-5.3-Flash or Kimi K3.1 Pro?
GLM-5.3-Flash and Kimi K3.1 Pro are within three points on the Models at Work leaderboard, which we treat as a tie (75 vs 75). GLM-5.3-Flash is about 15× cheaper per blended million tokens ($0.24 vs $3.68, one figure an Artificial Analysis estimate). On Artificial Analysis' independent Intelligence Index, Kimi K3.1 Pro leads 46 to 28.
When should I choose GLM-5.3-Flash over Kimi K3.1 Pro?
Choose GLM-5.3-Flash for cheap agentic coding execution, bulk document and image processing, self-hosted multimodal assistants. Probably the best price-to-intelligence ratio on the market: AA 42 for $0.15/$0.50, MIT-licensed, natively multimodal, 1M context. Not actually fast despite the name; treat it as a cheap executor behind a stronger planner.
When should I choose Kimi K3.1 Pro over GLM-5.3-Flash?
Choose Kimi K3.1 Pro for self-hosting at scale, open-weights requirements, long-context agent work. Open weights, 1M context and 46 on the independent index, which puts a self-hostable model within a few points of Gemini 3.8 Flash-class hosted tiers; the catch is a 2.8T-parameter footprint.
Which is cheaper, GLM-5.3-Flash or Kimi K3.1 Pro?
GLM-5.3-Flash costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens on Z.ai's list price (Z.ai Pricing, read Nov 9, 2026). Moonshot does not publish a simple list price for Kimi K3.1 Pro; Artificial Analysis estimates a blended $3.68 per million tokens (three input to one output).
Scores come from the Models at Work leaderboard: Score is 0 to 100 and computed, not typed: 55% independent evals (Artificial Analysis, Arena, Scale SEAL, Epoch, each scaled against its natural floor and the best score in this table, then averaged), 15% blended price on a fixed log scale ($0.05 per million is 100, $60 is 0), 15% practitioner sentiment from Signals and community threads, 15% operational fit (context window, open weights). A missing component drops out and the rest are reweighted. A model with no independent eval yet is provisional and ranks below every measured one. Within three points is a tie. Vendor-published figures are labelled and never counted. Prices are vendor list prices where published; blended figures assume three input tokens per output token.