Pairwise benchmark snapshot · Aug 16, 2026

Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs GLM-5.3 benchmark

Name: Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs GLM-5.3 AI benchmark comparison
Creator: CompareLLM
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

This page compares Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Anthropic) and GLM-5.3 (Zhipu) using the latest snapshots we have as of Aug 16, 2026. On preference Elo, GLM-5.3 is ahead by 34 points (1,558 vs 1,524; seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). On SWE-bench coding, GLM-5.3 resolves 76.4% versus 70.1% (seed-bootstrap (Aug 16, 2026)). GLM-5.3 streams faster (90 tok/s) while GLM-5.3 is the cheaper output token ($1.8/1M). Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the larger context window (1M tokens). Every cell below is a dated snapshot from a named public source — we do not invent missing scores, and we do not run SWE-bench ourselves.

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Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Workhorse Anthropic model: most of Opus coding quality at a mid-tier price.

Elo 1,524$15/1M out

Zhipu

GLM-5.3

Z.ai Aug 14 2026 post-train of the GLM-5.2 744B base. Coding-plan live; open weights promised after a two-week safety review (z.ai/blog/glm-5.3).

Elo 1,558$1.8/1M out

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Quick vs:vs Claude Opus 4.5 vs Claude Opus 4.6 vs Claude 3.7 Sonnet vs GPT-5

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (2)vsGLM-5.3 (8)

Claude Sonnet 4.5: 2W (20%)Overall: GLM-5.3GLM-5.3: 8W (80%)

← Claude Sonnet 4.5GLM-5.3 →

GLM-5.3 (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,524vs1,558

Coding Elo

1,531vs1,586

SWE-bench

70.1%vs76.4%

LiveBench

67.4%vs70.8%

GPQA Diamond

80.2%vs83.2%

Claude Sonnet 4.5: 0WGLM-5.3: 5W

Tied (1/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

88 tok/svs90 tok/s

Time to first token

240 msvs255 ms

Claude Sonnet 4.5: 1WGLM-5.3: 1W

GLM-5.3 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$15/1Mvs$1.8/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$0.5/1M

Context window

1Mvs200k

Claude Sonnet 4.5: 1WGLM-5.3: 2W

Capability Matchup Radar

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

Each spoke is a skill. Farther from the center is better (0–100th percentile). Tap any dot to inspect details.

Tap any node to inspect

Percentile 0–100

Dimensional AdvantageGLM-5.3 4/6

Preference Elo

GLM-5.3

34 pts advantage

Throughput Speed

GLM-5.3

2 tok/s faster

Price Efficiency

GLM-5.3

$13.20/1M cheaper

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

—

Elo

High is better

1,524

EloHigh is better

1,558+2%

Code Elo

High is better

1,531

Code EloHigh is better

1,586+4%

LiveBench

High is better

67.4%

LiveBenchHigh is better

70.8%+5%

SWE-bench

High is better

70.1%

SWE-benchHigh is better

76.4%+9%

GPQA

High is better

80.2%

GPQAHigh is better

83.2%+4%

TTFT

Low is better

+6%240 ms

TTFTLow is better

255 ms

Speed

High is better

88 tok/s

SpeedHigh is better

90 tok/s+2%

In $

Low is better

$3/1M

In $Low is better

$0.5/1M+500%

Out $

Low is better

$15/1M

Out $Low is better

$1.8/1M+733%

Context

High is better

+400%1M

ContextHigh is better

200k

Interactive Simulator

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Simulate monthly production API costs based on published $/1M tokens.

Save up to 87% with GLM-5.3

Monthly Volume50M tokens/mo

Quick Presets:

Token Ratio (In vs Out)70% In / 30% Out

RAG / Search (10% out)Coding / Chat (50% out)

Claude Sonnet 4.5$330.00 / mo

In: $105.00Out: $225.00

GLM-5.3$44.50 / mo

In: $17.50Out: $27.00

Estimated Cost Delta

GLM-5.3 is estimated to save $285.50/month ($3,426/year).

Based on 50M tokens (30% gen)

Key Selection Recommendations

1
GLM-5.3:Pick GLM-5.3 when repo-level coding accuracy is the constraint.
2
Claude Sonnet 4.5:Pick Claude Sonnet 4.5 when time-to-first-token matters more than peak Elo.
3
Claude Sonnet 4.5:Pick Claude Sonnet 4.5 for million-token RAG or long-document jobs.

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGLM-5.3

Higher SWE-bench (76.4%).

High-volume chatGLM-5.3

Lower output list price ($1.8/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIClaude Sonnet 4.5

Lower TTFT (240 ms).

Long-document RAGClaude Sonnet 4.5

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGLM-5.3

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GLM-5.3).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	GLM-5.3	Higher SWE-bench (76.4%).
High-volume chat	GLM-5.3	Lower output list price ($1.8/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Claude Sonnet 4.5	Lower TTFT (240 ms).
Long-document RAG	Claude Sonnet 4.5	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	GLM-5.3	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GLM-5.3).

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

View all news

launchAug 14, 2026

GLM-5.3 (Aug 14): Z.ai post-train of the 5.2 744B base

Coding-plan live; open weights promised after a two-week safety review. Newest Zhipu row.

launchJun 18, 2026

GLM-5.2 remains the prior Zhipu flagship for upgrade pairs

Strong Chinese/English coding. 5.3 is the new row; 5.2 stays so the delta is visible.

launchFeb 18, 2026

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the previous workhorse — still a valid vs baseline

Most of Opus 4.5 coding at a mid-tier price. Sonnet 5 replaced it as the buy; 4.5 remains a compare baseline.

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LIVE

Anthropic

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Elo 1,524

LiveBench67.4%

SWE-bench70.1%

Speed88 tok/s

Output cost$15/1M

Zhipu

GLM-5.3

Elo 1,558

LiveBench70.8%

SWE-bench76.4%

Speed90 tok/s

Output cost$1.8/1M

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GLM-5.3?: GLM-5.3 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,558). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.
Which is better at coding, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GLM-5.3?: GLM-5.3 leads SWE-bench at 76.4% vs 70.1%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.
Which is cheaper to run in production?: GLM-5.3 output tokens are $1.8/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.
Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GLM-5.3?: Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the lower time-to-first-token (240 ms vs 255 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.
Which has the larger context window?: Claude Sonnet 4.5 accepts 1M tokens versus 200k.
Can I self-host either model?: Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.
Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?: No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.
What does preference Elo mean on this page?: Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude Sonnet 4.5 and GLM-5.3 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

All Claude Sonnet 4.5 matchups →|All GLM-5.3 matchups →

Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 4 (previous sonnet)Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs Claude Sonnet 5 (next sonnet)GLM-5.3 vs GLM-5.2 (previous glm)Claude Sonnet 5 vs GLM-5.3 Claude Opus 4.5 vs GLM-5.3 Claude Opus 4.6 vs GLM-5.3

Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs GLM-5.3 benchmark

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Matchup Breakdown

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Category wins across intelligence, speed, and pricing efficiency.

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (2)vsGLM-5.3 (8)

Claude Sonnet 4.5: 2W (20%)Overall: GLM-5.3GLM-5.3: 8W (80%)

← Claude Sonnet 4.5GLM-5.3 →

GLM-5.3 (5/5)

Intelligence & Reasoning

Preference Elo, Coding proficiency, SWE-bench & LiveBench accuracy

Preference Elo

1,524vs1,558

Coding Elo

1,531vs1,586

SWE-bench

70.1%vs76.4%

LiveBench

67.4%vs70.8%

GPQA Diamond

80.2%vs83.2%

Claude Sonnet 4.5: 0WGLM-5.3: 5W

Tied (1/2)

Speed & Latency

Generation throughput and time to first token responsiveness

Output speed

88 tok/svs90 tok/s

Time to first token

240 msvs255 ms

Claude Sonnet 4.5: 1WGLM-5.3: 1W

GLM-5.3 (2/3)

Pricing & Capacity

Cost per million tokens and max context window length

Output price

$15/1Mvs$1.8/1M

Input price

$3/1Mvs$0.5/1M

Context window

1Mvs200k

Claude Sonnet 4.5: 1WGLM-5.3: 2W

Recommended Workload Routing

Repo / coding agentsGLM-5.3

Higher SWE-bench (76.4%).

High-volume chatGLM-5.3

Lower output list price ($1.8/1M).

Voice / low-latency UIClaude Sonnet 4.5

Lower TTFT (240 ms).

Long-document RAGClaude Sonnet 4.5

Larger window (1M).

Screenshots / visionGLM-5.3

Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GLM-5.3).

Target Workload	Recommended Pick	Evaluation Rationale
Repo / coding agents	GLM-5.3	Higher SWE-bench (76.4%).
High-volume chat	GLM-5.3	Lower output list price ($1.8/1M).
Voice / low-latency UI	Claude Sonnet 4.5	Lower TTFT (240 ms).
Long-document RAG	Claude Sonnet 4.5	Larger window (1M).
Screenshots / vision	GLM-5.3	Both accept images. Defaulting to the higher-Elo side (GLM-5.3).

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better overall, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GLM-5.3?

GLM-5.3 has the higher preference Elo in our latest snapshot (1,558). “Better” still depends on coding, price, and latency — see the table.

Which is better at coding, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GLM-5.3?

GLM-5.3 leads SWE-bench at 76.4% vs 70.1%. SWE-bench is one harness, not your repo.

Which is cheaper to run in production?

GLM-5.3 output tokens are $1.8/1M versus $15/1M. Input prices and retry rates still move the real bill.

Which is faster, Claude Sonnet 4.5 or GLM-5.3?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 has the lower time-to-first-token (240 ms vs 255 ms). Tokens/sec is a separate column if you care about long completions.

Which has the larger context window?

Claude Sonnet 4.5 accepts 1M tokens versus 200k.

Can I self-host either model?

Neither model is marked open-weights here. You are comparing hosted APIs.

Are these scores from CompareLLM’s own evals?

No. V1 aggregates public leaderboards (and optional first-party latency pings). Each cell names its source and date. Read /methodology.

What does preference Elo mean on this page?

Preference Elo is a crowd vote from LMArena / Arena. People see two hidden answers and pick the one they like more. The model that wins more often gets a higher Elo. That means people preferred it — not that it passed a school test. It is not SWE-bench, not accuracy, and not a number we invent. Claude Sonnet 4.5 and GLM-5.3 Elo cells are dated snapshots from the named source — we do not compute Arena ourselves.

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

GLM-5.3

GLM-5.3

GLM-5.3

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

GLM-5.3 (Aug 14): Z.ai post-train of the 5.2 744B base

GLM-5.2 remains the prior Zhipu flagship for upgrade pairs

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the previous workhorse — still a valid vs baseline

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

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CompareLLM Matrix

Claude Sonnet 4.5

GLM-5.3

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons

Swap or Add Any Model to this Matchup

Interactive Comparison Diagram

Tug-of-War Matchup Matrix

Intelligence & Reasoning

Speed & Latency

Pricing & Capacity

Multi-Dimensional Capability Radar

GLM-5.3

GLM-5.3

GLM-5.3

Full Benchmark Score Matrix

Workload Cost & Savings Calculator

Key Selection Recommendations

Recommended Workload Routing

Related Editorial Dispatches & Benchmark Notes

GLM-5.3 (Aug 14): Z.ai post-train of the 5.2 744B base

GLM-5.2 remains the prior Zhipu flagship for upgrade pairs

Claude Sonnet 4.5 is the previous workhorse — still a valid vs baseline

Cast Your Matchup Vote

Community Discussions (0)

Share card

CompareLLM Matrix

Claude Sonnet 4.5

GLM-5.3

Frequently Asked Questions

Related news

Similar Head-to-Head Comparisons