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Model comparison

Cohere Command A+ vs GLM 5.3 Flash

Cohere against Z.ai, compared on context, price, and attributed benchmark results.

Recorded profile verification October 2, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: Medium — see receipts below

Cohere

Cohere Command A+

Balanced · Open weights

vs

Z.ai

GLM 5.3 Flash

Balanced · Open weights

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationCohere Command A+GLM 5.3 Flash
ProviderCohereZ.ai
TierBalancedBalanced
Context window128KWinner: 1.05M
Max output64KNot verifiedUnverified
Input / 1M tokens$0.80Winner: $0.15
Output / 1M tokens$3.20Winner: $0.50
WeightsOpenOpen
Parameters218B total / 25B active (sparse MoE)320B total / 18B active (MoE)
Reasoning levelsNot verifiedUnverifiedlow, high, max
Modalitiestext, imagetext, image, video, file
LicenseApache 2.0MIT
API model idcommand-a-plus-05-2026glm-5.3-flash
ReleasedMay 20, 2026August 26, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · source date Cohere Command A+: 2026-10-0113Not verifiedUnverified
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index · source date GLM 5.3 Flash: 2026-10-01Not verifiedUnverified42
Terminal-Bench 2.1 · source date GLM 5.3 Flash: 2026-08Not verifiedUnverified84.3
DeepSWE 1.1 · source date GLM 5.3 Flash: 2026-08Not verifiedUnverified63.4
Humanity's Last Exam · source date GLM 5.3 Flash: 2026-08Not verifiedUnverified55.3

Dates beside benchmark scores refer to the linked source’s publication or capture date unless that source explicitly states when it measured the result. A shared URL alone does not establish comparable runs; unverified setups are marked. Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Values we could not confirm from the provider are shown as “Not verified” rather than estimated.

Benchmark receipts

Where each score comes from, and how far it can be compared across models.

  • Source date2026-10-01
    Artificial Analysis (GLM-5.3-Flash)

    Composite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score.

    Comparable with caveatOnly same-version scores are comparable. v4.3.2 was rebaselined (the top score fell from 66 on v4.1.1 to ~58), so v4.1.1 figures must not be compared with v4.3.2 figures — check the cited source and its date.

  • Source date2026-10-01
    Artificial Analysis (Command A+)

    Composite index blending reasoning, knowledge, and coding evals into one 0–100 score.

    Comparable with caveatOnly same-version scores are comparable. v4.3.2 was rebaselined (the top score fell from 66 on v4.1.1 to ~58), so v4.1.1 figures must not be compared with v4.3.2 figures — check the cited source and its date.

  • Source date2026-08
    GLM-5.3-Flash HF card (vendor, tools/full set; 300K context, 163,840 max generation, GPT-5.6-Luna medium judge)

    Frontier-knowledge ceiling: extremely hard multi-domain questions written to be near-impossible without deep expertise.

    Comparable with caveatSubset/tool configurations (text-only vs with-tools) differ between vendors and materially change scores; must match configuration to compare.

  • Source date2026-08
    Z.ai GLM-5.3-Flash blog (vendor, mini-swe-agent, 400K context)

    Agentic software engineering: pass@1 on real repo tasks with reported cost per completed task.

    Directly comparable

  • Source date2026-08
    GLM-5.3-Flash HF card (vendor; Claude Code 2.1.207, 65,536 max generation, 6h timeout)

    Agentic terminal work: multi-step tasks executed in a sandboxed shell environment.

    Comparable with caveatNot comparable with Terminal-Bench 3.0 or 4.0 (different task sets) or v1; harness configuration (container, time limits) also shifts results.

Pricing tiers

Cohere Command A+: Azure's current USD retail feed lists Command A Plus public-cloud Global at $0.80/$3.20 per MTok and data-zone meters at $0.88/$3.52. US Government Global is $1.00/$4.00 and data-zone $1.10/$4.40. These are Azure rates, not Cohere-direct prices. Cohere's A+ page says trial and production keys are free until rate limits; general paid-key documentation and production-access requirements differ. Standard Vault lists A+ L/XL at $17.50/$32.50 per instance-hour, typically via a waitlist; encrypted beta design-partner access is separately scoped.

GLM 5.3 Flash: Z.ai API $0.15/$0.50 per MTok; cached input $0.03 and limited-time free cache storage. Hosted docs advertise 1M context and 128K output; the checkpoint config sets 1,048,576 context. An exact endpoint-specific numeric output ceiling is not separately verified. FlashX is a distinct $0.37/$1.25 endpoint; third-party prices require their own checks.

BalancedOpen weightsRecord checked October 2, 2026

Cohere Command A+

Command A+ is Cohere's Apache-declared open-weight 218B/25B sparse MoE for enterprise text, image and agentic workloads; its W4A4 checkpoint is distinct from a hosted service contract.

Best for

  • Open-weight deployments
  • Enterprise RAG
  • Tool use

Watch out

The checked Cohere API ID has 128,000 context and 64,000 maximum output. Its W4A4 checkpoint config lists 200,000 positions; that does not expand the hosted limit. Thinking is enabled by default and can be disabled with thinking.type=disabled; thinking.token_budget is a budget rather than a low/medium/high menu. Cohere recommends leaving at least 1K tokens for the answer. Trial A+ is 20 requests/minute; the rate-limit page caps trial/newer-model keys at 1,000 calls/month and directs production access to sales. Do not treat the model-specific free-use statement as unlimited production capacity or as an Azure/Vault entitlement.

BalancedOpen weightsRecord checked October 2, 2026

GLM 5.3 Flash

Z.ai's multimodal MIT-licensed 320B/18B MoE checkpoint and hosted Flash endpoint, with always-enabled reasoning and publisher coding/agent evaluations.

Best for

  • Cost-efficient long-context
  • Multimodal input
  • Coding agents

Watch out

The 320B weights require substantial hardware; memory depends on quantization, runtime and context. Effort low/high/max defaults to max. Flash is on Coding Plan with three times GLM-5.3 quota; FlashX is not on the plan. Half-point off-peak/weekend use applies to plan quota, not per-token API prices. Publisher evaluation generation budgets are not hosted API output caps.

When the cheaper one wins

GLM 5.3 Flash is cheaper on output at $0.50 per million tokens against $3.20 for Cohere Command A+ — about 6.4×. Use the cheaper tier for classification, extraction, summarisation, and any task where the expensive model’s extra score does not change the accepted output. The expensive one only pays if your hardest task actually fails on the cheap tier. This compares standard short-context token rates, not total cost per accepted task. Include input, cache, context tiers, schedules, retries and review in your pilot.

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Evidence confidence: Medium

How strong and complete the evidence behind this comparison is — not a prediction of which model is better.

  • Pricing verified on both sides — Input and output rates are verified for both models.
  • 3/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: max output, reasoning levels.
  • No directly aligned benchmark setup — No benchmark has matching cited sources, source dates, units, effort and recorded run details on both models.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Older of the two catalog checks was 24 days ago.
  • Both models carry source citations — Each side has at least two catalog sources on record.

Source receipts

Each catalog figure was checked against the provider or an independent second source on the date shown.

Related comparisons

Diving deeper on one model? Cohere Command A+ · GLM 5.3 Flash

Common questions

Cohere Command A+ vs GLM 5.3 Flash

Answered from the verified figures on this page rather than general guidance.

Is Cohere Command A+ or GLM 5.3 Flash cheaper for input?
GLM 5.3 Flash is cheaper at $0.15 per million input tokens, against $0.80 for Cohere Command A+ — roughly 5.3× the price. Estimate both input and output token volume for your workload. These are base rates; Cohere Command A+: Azure's current USD retail feed lists Command A Plus public-cloud Global at $0.80/$3.20 per MTok and data-zone meters at $0.88/$3.52. US Government Global is $1.00/$4.00 and data-zone $1.10/$4.40. These are Azure rates, not Cohere-direct prices. Cohere's A+ page says trial and production keys are free until rate limits; general paid-key documentation and production-access requirements differ. Standard Vault lists A+ L/XL at $17.50/$32.50 per instance-hour, typically via a waitlist; encrypted beta design-partner access is separately scoped. GLM 5.3 Flash: Z.ai API $0.15/$0.50 per MTok; cached input $0.03 and limited-time free cache storage. Hosted docs advertise 1M context and 128K output; the checkpoint config sets 1,048,576 context. An exact endpoint-specific numeric output ceiling is not separately verified. FlashX is a distinct $0.37/$1.25 endpoint; third-party prices require their own checks.
Is Cohere Command A+ or GLM 5.3 Flash cheaper for output?
GLM 5.3 Flash is cheaper at $0.50 per million output tokens, against $3.20 for Cohere Command A+ — roughly 6.4× the price. Estimate both input and output token volume for your workload. These are base rates; Cohere Command A+: Azure's current USD retail feed lists Command A Plus public-cloud Global at $0.80/$3.20 per MTok and data-zone meters at $0.88/$3.52. US Government Global is $1.00/$4.00 and data-zone $1.10/$4.40. These are Azure rates, not Cohere-direct prices. Cohere's A+ page says trial and production keys are free until rate limits; general paid-key documentation and production-access requirements differ. Standard Vault lists A+ L/XL at $17.50/$32.50 per instance-hour, typically via a waitlist; encrypted beta design-partner access is separately scoped. GLM 5.3 Flash: Z.ai API $0.15/$0.50 per MTok; cached input $0.03 and limited-time free cache storage. Hosted docs advertise 1M context and 128K output; the checkpoint config sets 1,048,576 context. An exact endpoint-specific numeric output ceiling is not separately verified. FlashX is a distinct $0.37/$1.25 endpoint; third-party prices require their own checks.
Which has the larger context window, Cohere Command A+ or GLM 5.3 Flash?
GLM 5.3 Flash accepts 1.05M tokens against 128K for Cohere Command A+. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Should I use Cohere Command A+ or GLM 5.3 Flash?
Both are classified in our balanced tier; this editorial grouping does not imply equal capability. Cohere Command A+ is a candidate for open-weight deployments; GLM 5.3 Flash is a candidate for cost-efficient long-context. Compare accuracy, tool reliability, latency and cost on representative tasks.

Next step

Choosing between them

The verified figures that separate this pair, computed from the catalog rather than restated boilerplate.

  • Input price: GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.15 per 1M tokens versus $0.80 for Cohere Command A+ — a 5.3x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: GLM 5.3 Flash takes 1.05M against 128K for Cohere Command A+ — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
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