Skip to main content
AI Choice Engine

Model comparison

GLM 5.3 vs Grok 4.7

Z.ai against SpaceXAI, compared on context, price, and verified benchmark results.

Catalog record checked September 26, 2026Individual provider fields may changeEvidence confidence: High — see receipts below

Z.ai

GLM 5.3

Frontier · Open weights

vs

SpaceXAI

Grok 4.7

Frontier

AI model capability comparison
SpecificationGLM 5.3Grok 4.7
ProviderZ.aiSpaceXAI
TierFrontierFrontier
Context windowWinner: 1M500K
Max output128KNot verifiedUnverified
Input / 1M tokensWinner: $1.40$2
Output / 1M tokensWinner: $4.40$6
WeightsOpenClosed
Parameters753B total (MoE; active count unpublished)new, larger base model with longer RL on multi-hour tasks
Reasoning levelslow, high, maxlow, medium, high, xhigh
Modalitiestexttext, image
Licenseglm-5.3 (custom)Not disclosedUnverified
API model idglm-5.3grok-4.7
ReleasedAugust 14, 2026September 21, 2026
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index [max] (2026-09-26)44.8Not verifiedUnverified
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index [xhigh] (2026-09-26)Not verifiedUnverified46.4
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (2026-08-14)88.2Not verifiedUnverified
DeepSWE 1.1 (2026-08-14)66.9Not verifiedUnverified
DeepSWE 1.1 [high] (2026-09-21)Not verifiedUnverified71
Humanity's Last Exam (2026-08-14)62.5Not verifiedUnverified
SWE-bench Verified (2026-09-01)95.4Not verifiedUnverified
Terminal-Bench 4.0 [xhigh] (2026-09-26)Not verifiedUnverified25.8

Prices are USD per million tokens at standard rates, excluding batch and caching discounts. Bold indicates the better figure where one is objectively better. 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.

Pricing tiers

GLM 5.3: Token API listed at $1.40/$4.40 per MTok from 2026-08-18 (cached input $0.26); Coding Plan access on a points quota. 1M context, 128K max output per official docs; thinking always on. 753B total MoE per the Hugging Face card (active count unpublished).

Grok 4.7: $2/$6 per MTok (<200K prompt); $4/$12 for all tokens at ≥200K. Cached input $0.50/MTok ($1.00 at ≥200K). US regional endpoint 1.1x. No Batch API; the 2x-price 'Fast' variant is Cursor and Grok Build only. xAI lists no separate text-output cap. Knowledge cutoff May 2026.

FrontierOpen weightsRecord checked September 26, 2026

GLM 5.3

GLM 5.3 is Zhipu's flagship (~753B MoE), near the top of the leaderboards, and the current GLM Coding Plan default.

Best for

  • Coding Plan subscribers
  • Long-horizon coding
  • Chinese + English

Watch out

Open weights dropped 2026-08-28 under Z.ai's custom glm-5.3 licence (not a standard open-source licence — review before commercial use; secondary coverage says >$10B-revenue providers need a security review). 5.2/5.1 Coding Plan requests route to 5.3.

FrontierRecord checked September 26, 2026

Grok 4.7

Grok 4.7 is xAI's flagship since 2026-09-21 — a larger new base model with longer RL on multi-hour tasks, at Grok 4.6's $2/$6 price.

Best for

  • Coding agents
  • Cost-sensitive frontier work
  • Cursor and GitHub Copilot users

Watch out

Token rates double above a 200K-token prompt and there is no Batch API; the DeepSWE figure is vendor-reported.

When the cheaper one wins

GLM 5.3 is cheaper on output at $4.40 per million tokens against $6 for Grok 4.7 — about 1.4×. 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. These are standard-tier API rates, excluding batch and cache discounts.

Run the model picker

Evidence confidence: High

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.
  • 4/5 core specs verified on both sides — Not published for at least one side: max output.
  • 2 shared named benchmarks with differing scores — Measured on: Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, DeepSWE 1.1.
  • Verified within the last 90 days — Newest catalog check was 2 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? GLM 5.3 · Grok 4.7

Common questions

GLM 5.3 vs Grok 4.7

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

Is GLM 5.3 or Grok 4.7 cheaper for input?
GLM 5.3 is cheaper at $1.40 per million input tokens, against $2 for Grok 4.7 — roughly 1.4× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; GLM 5.3 has tiered pricing: Token API listed at $1.40/$4.40 per MTok from 2026-08-18 (cached input $0.26); Coding Plan access on a points quota. 1M context, 128K max output per official docs; thinking always on. 753B total MoE per the Hugging Face card (active count unpublished). Grok 4.7 has tiered pricing: $2/$6 per MTok (<200K prompt); $4/$12 for all tokens at ≥200K. Cached input $0.50/MTok ($1.00 at ≥200K). US regional endpoint 1.1x. No Batch API; the 2x-price 'Fast' variant is Cursor and Grok Build only. xAI lists no separate text-output cap. Knowledge cutoff May 2026.
Is GLM 5.3 or Grok 4.7 cheaper for output?
GLM 5.3 is cheaper at $4.40 per million output tokens, against $6 for Grok 4.7 — roughly 1.4× the price. Output tokens usually dominate a real bill, so weigh the output rate more heavily than the input rate. These are base rates; GLM 5.3 has tiered pricing: Token API listed at $1.40/$4.40 per MTok from 2026-08-18 (cached input $0.26); Coding Plan access on a points quota. 1M context, 128K max output per official docs; thinking always on. 753B total MoE per the Hugging Face card (active count unpublished). Grok 4.7 has tiered pricing: $2/$6 per MTok (<200K prompt); $4/$12 for all tokens at ≥200K. Cached input $0.50/MTok ($1.00 at ≥200K). US regional endpoint 1.1x. No Batch API; the 2x-price 'Fast' variant is Cursor and Grok Build only. xAI lists no separate text-output cap. Knowledge cutoff May 2026.
Which has the larger context window, GLM 5.3 or Grok 4.7?
GLM 5.3 accepts 1M tokens against 500K for Grok 4.7. This only matters if you routinely send very long documents or large codebases.
Do GLM 5.3 and Grok 4.7 support the same reasoning levels?
GLM 5.3 exposes low, high, max, while Grok 4.7 exposes low, medium, high, xhigh.
Should I use GLM 5.3 or Grok 4.7?
Both sit in the frontier tier, so the choice usually comes down to price and context rather than capability. GLM 5.3 suits coding plan subscribers; Grok 4.7 suits coding agents.
Can I self-host GLM 5.3 or Grok 4.7?
GLM 5.3 publishes open weights, but self-hosting and third-party provider access depend on the licence, hardware, serving support, and availability. Grok 4.7 is a closed model whose supported access paths are controlled by its provider.

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 costs $1.40 per 1M tokens versus $2 for Grok 4.7 — a 1.4x difference at the headline tier.
  • Context: GLM 5.3 takes 1M against 500K for Grok 4.7 — only decisive if your prompts approach the smaller window.
  • Measured capability: Grok 4.7 leads Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index 46.4 to 44.8 (measured 2026-09-26).
  • Deployment: GLM 5.3 publishes weights you can self-host; the other is API-only.
Run the model pickerEstimate stack costAll model comparisons

Choosing a harness rather than a model — Cursor, Copilot, Claude Code, Windsurf, or Lovable? Compare agentic harnesses · Latest releases.