Standard Compute
Model comparison 2026

Gemini 3.8 Flash vs GLM 4.6

Gemini 3.8 Flash
Google · Balanced · Proprietary
$1.65/1M · 1.0M ctx
GLM 4.6
Z.AI · Balanced · Open weights
$0.95/1M · 205K 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
Gemini 3.8 Flash
GLM 4.6
Maker
Google
Z.AI
Blended price / 1M
$1.65
$0.95
Input / output
$0.75 in · $3.75 out / 1M tokens
$0.50 in · $2.00 out / 1M tokens
Context window
1.0M
205K
Open weights
No
Yes
Tool use
Yes
Yes
Reasoning
Yes
Yes
Output Quality
9.1
7.8
Agentic Ability
8.9
7.9
Speed
9.2
8.0
Value for money
8.8
8.8
Reliability
8.9
8.4

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

Verdict: Gemini 3.8 Flash or GLM 4.6?

Updated 2026-10-13

Choose Gemini 3.8 Flash if you want high-throughput agents and Gemini CLI users who want speed and big context. Choose GLM 4.6 if you want the value pick for open-weight coding agents.

In our editorial scoring, Gemini 3.8 Flash leads in 4 of five dimensions (output quality, agentic ability, speed and reliability), while GLM 4.6 leads in 0. On price, Gemini 3.8 Flash runs about $1.65 per 1M tokens (blended) and is proprietary; GLM 4.6 is about $0.95 and open-weight.

Where Gemini 3.8 Flash falls short
  • Price doubles to $1.50/$7.50 on January 1, 2027
  • Weak on long terminal tasks (19.1% on Terminal-Bench 4.0)
Full Gemini 3.8 Flash breakdown →
Where GLM 4.6 falls short
  • Smaller context than the 5.x line
  • Below frontier on the hardest tasks
Full GLM 4.6 breakdown →

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