Z.ai · Model
GLM 5.3 Flash pricing, context window and specs
GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens, and reads up to 1,048,575 tokens per request. By blended price it is the cheapest of Z.ai’s 7 current models here.
- Input / 1M
- $0.15
- Output / 1M
- $0.50
- Cached / 1M
- $0.03
- Context
- 1,048,575
- Max output
- Not published
- Released
- 2026-08-26
Estimate your cost with GLM 5.3 FlashCompare all Z.ai modelsCount tokens for GLM 5.3 Flash
Pricing
GLM 5.3 Flash API pricing
| Price per 1M tokens | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $0.15 | $0.50 |
| Cached input (read) | $0.03 | – |
| Batch API | $0.06 | $0.20 |
Output costs 3.3× the input price, so long replies drive the bill more than long prompts. If your requests share a long fixed prefix, such as a system prompt or tool definitions, caching cuts that part to 20% of the normal input price.
Examples
What GLM 5.3 Flash costs in practice
| Workload | Tokens in / out | Requests/day | Per request | Per month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot50% cached | 1,500 / 400 | 1,000 | $0.000335 | $10.19 |
| RAG app20% cached | 6,000 / 500 | 500 | $0.00101 | $15.30 |
| Coding agent80% cached | 40,000 / 2,000 | 200 | $0.00316 | $19.22 |
| Document summariserbatch | 8,000 / 600 | 300 | $0.0006 | $5.48 |
Change any number in the cost calculator.
Context
Context window
GLM 5.3 Flash accepts up to 1,048,575 tokens per request, roughly 786,431 English words or 1,573 pages. That budget is shared between your prompt and the reply, and no separate cap on the reply is published.
Filling the whole window with one prompt costs about $0.16 at list price, so for repeated long-document work, retrieval (sending only the relevant parts) or prompt caching is usually much cheaper.
Features
Capabilities
- Image input
- Yes
- Tool / function calling
- Yes
- Reasoning mode
- Yes
- Prompt caching
- Yes
- Structured output
- Yes
- Open weights
- Yes
- Accepts
- text, image, video
- Knowledge cutoff
- Not published
As declared by the provider’s API. It shows a feature exists, not how well it works.
API
GLM 5.3 Flash model ID
- OpenRouter
z-ai/glm-5.3-flash- Open weights
- zai-org/GLM-5.3-Flash
Use the OpenRouter ID when calling it through OpenRouter; Z.ai’s own API may name it differently. See the model ID reference for the providers we document.
Z.ai
Where GLM 5.3 Flash sits in Z.ai’s line-up
Ranked by blended price (three parts input to one part output, $0.2375 per 1M for GLM 5.3 Flash), it is the cheapest of Z.ai’s 7 current models here. One step up, GLM 4.6V costs $0.45 (1.9× as much). Unlike GLM 5.3 Flash, it reads up to 131,072 tokens (1,048,575 here). See every Z.ai model and price
| Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLM 5.3 Flash (this page) | $0.15 | $0.50 | 1,048,575 | 2026-08-26 |
| GLM 4.6V | $0.30 | $0.90 | 131,072 | 2025-12-08 |
| GLM 5.3 FlashX | $0.37 | $1.25 | 1,048,576 | 2026-09-18 |
| GLM 5 Turbo | $1.20 | $4 | 202,752 | 2026-03-15 |
| GLM 5V Turbo | $1.20 | $4 | 202,752 | 2026-04-01 |
| GLM 5.3 | $1.40 | $4.40 | 1,048,576 | 2026-08-18 |
| GLM 5.3 Prime | $2.80 | $8.80 | 1,000,000 | 2026-09-23 |
Z.ai’s current models with a page here, cheapest first. Older and superseded models are listed on the provider page and in the comparison table.
History
Earlier versions of GLM 5.3 Flash
The previous model in this line is GLM 4.7 Flash, first listed on 2026-01-19. Compared with it, GLM 5.3 Flash’s input price is 148% higher and its output price is 25% higher, and the context window went from 131,072 to 1,048,575 tokens.
| Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context | Released |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLM 4.7 Flash | $0.0605 | $0.40 | 131,072 | 2026-01-19 |
Earlier releases with the same name and size in our data, newest first. Dates are when our source first listed each model.
Save
Cheaper alternatives
- Gemma 4 26B A4BGoogle55% cheaper
- Qwen3.5-9BQwen53% cheaper
- Seed 1.6 FlashByteDance Seed45% cheaper
- GPT-6 LunaOpenAI16% cheaper
- Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic16% cheaper
Current models from major providers, one per provider, that keep image input, tool calling, a reasoning mode, a usable context window and output limit. Compared by blended price.
Compare
Similarly priced models
- Qwen3.8 Omni FlashQwen$0.15 / $0.47
- DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423DeepSeek$0.2088 / $0.4176
- Mistral Small 4Mistral$0.15 / $0.60
- GPT-6 LunaOpenAI$0.10 / $0.50
- Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic$0.10 / $0.50
Current models from other major providers, closest blended price.
FAQ
GLM 5.3 Flash questions
How much does GLM 5.3 Flash cost?
GLM 5.3 Flash costs $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens, with cached input at $0.03. A typical chatbot reply (1,500 tokens in, 400 out) costs about $0.000425. Use the LLM cost calculator for your own workload.
What is GLM 5.3 Flash’s context window?
1,048,575 tokens, about 786,431 English words or 1,573 printed pages, shared between your prompt and the reply. No separate limit on the reply is published, so the window is the limit.
Does GLM 5.3 Flash support prompt caching and batch requests?
Yes, cached input is billed at $0.03 per million tokens (20% of the normal input price). A batch API is available at $0.06 input and $0.20 output per million tokens.
What are cheaper alternatives to GLM 5.3 Flash?
With the same essentials (image input and tool calling), the cheapest options are Gemma 4 26B A4B (55% cheaper), Qwen3.5-9B (53% cheaper), Seed 1.6 Flash (45% cheaper). Cheaper doesn’t mean equivalent, so test them on your own prompts.
What is the API model ID for GLM 5.3 Flash?
On OpenRouter it is z-ai/glm-5.3-flash. Z.ai’s own API may use a different name, so check its model list before you deploy. Pass the ID as the model value in each request.
What did GLM 5.3 Flash replace?
The previous Z.ai model in the same line is GLM 4.7 Flash, first listed on 2026-01-19. Compared with it, GLM 5.3 Flash’s input price is 148% higher and its output price is 25% higher. Prices are only part of the picture, so test the newer model on your own prompts before switching.
Is GLM 5.3 Flash open source?
Yes, GLM 5.3 Flash has open weights, so you can run it yourself or choose between several hosting providers. The prices here are a typical hosted price.