Standard Compute
Model comparison 2026

DeepSeek V4 Flash vs GLM 5.3

DeepSeek V4 Flash
DeepSeek · Budget · Open weights
$0.12/1M · 1.0M ctx
GLM 5.3
Z.AI · Frontier · Open weights
$1.50/1M · 1.0M ctx

Community vote

Pick a winner in each dimension. You can change your vote any time.

Output Quality
Correctness and depth of what it produces
Agentic Ability
Tool calls, instruction-following, and multi-step tasks
Speed
Tokens per second and time-to-first-token
Value for money
How much capability you get per dollar
Reliability
Consistent results: fewer refusals, loops and format breaks

Specs and pricing side by side

Spec
DeepSeek V4 Flash
GLM 5.3
Maker
DeepSeek
Z.AI
Blended price / 1M
$0.12
$1.50
Input / output
$0.09 in · $0.18 out / 1M tokens
$0.08 in · $4.80 out / 1M tokens
Context window
1.0M
1.0M
Open weights
Yes
Yes
Tool use
Yes
Yes
Reasoning
Yes
Yes
Output Quality
7.7
8.4
Agentic Ability
7.1
8.2
Speed
9.1
6.9
Value for money
9.4
5.9
Reliability
8.7
8.8

Pricing and capabilities synced from the OpenRouter catalogue. Scores are editorial (0–10).

Verdict: DeepSeek V4 Flash or GLM 5.3?

Updated 2026-10-13

Choose DeepSeek V4 Flash if you want existing setups that still call the deepseek-v4-flash name. Choose GLM 5.3 if you want coding agents that need open weights and strong agentic scores.

In our editorial scoring, GLM 5.3 leads in 3 of five dimensions (output quality, agentic ability and reliability), while DeepSeek V4 Flash leads in 2. On price, DeepSeek V4 Flash runs about $0.12 per 1M tokens (blended) and is open-weight; GLM 5.3 is about $1.50 and open-weight.

Where DeepSeek V4 Flash falls short
  • Retired as a DeepSeek API name; calls run V4.1 Flash instead
  • Third-party hosts of the original weights vary in price and speed
Full DeepSeek V4 Flash breakdown →
Where GLM 5.3 falls short
  • Custom license with conditions for very large hosting providers
  • Reasoning cannot be turned off
Full GLM 5.3 breakdown →

The agent matters as much as the model. Compare AI agents →

Every model on this page is included with Standard Compute

Standard Compute

Current frontier models Claude Opus 5.5 · Claude Sonnet 5.5

Your agents never stop.
Your bill never grows.

Frontier models when it counts. Efficient models when it doesn’t. The most intelligence per dollar. One flat bill.

Plans from $19/mo · cancel anytime · 7-day fair refund

7-day fair refund No credit card needed Billing by Stripe1,800+ agent users

Related comparisons