Comparisons › GLM vs DeepSeek: the open-weight value battle

GLM vs DeepSeek: the open-weight value battle

DeepSeek built its name on price; GLM-5.3 is the newcomer that matches it on value while bringing stronger front-end design.

Value verdict: on intelligence per $1, DeepSeek currently comes out ahead — 218,182 vs 123,288. Prices move often, so recheck the calculator regularly.

At a glance

Model compared

GLM	DeepSeek	DeepSeek
Flagship model	GLM-5.3 (max)	DeepSeek V4 Pro
Input / 1M	$1.40	$0.66
Output / 1M	$4.40	$1.98
Intelligence index	45	36
Tokens / $1	274.0k	606.1k
Intelligence / $1	123,288	218,182
Cheapest plan	—	—

API pricing

GLM-5.3 (max) costs $1.40 / $4.40 per 1M tokens; DeepSeek V4 Pro costs $0.66 / $1.98 (off-peak). DeepSeek is the cheaper frontier option; GLM-5.3 is pricier on output.

Capabilities

Practitioners rate DeepSeek V4 Pro as the value king (S tier for cost), while GLM-5.3 is B tier for front-end design — one of the best-designing open-weight models. GLM's weakness is speed: Z.ai lacks the compute to serve it fast yet.

The verdict

Both deliver DeepSeek-class value. Pick GLM-5.3 if you want stronger design output and can tolerate slower serving; pick DeepSeek V4 Pro for the mature ecosystem and reliability.

Bottom line: Both are DeepSeek-class value. Pick GLM-5.3 for stronger front-end design if you can tolerate slower serving; pick DeepSeek V4 Pro for ecosystem maturity and reliability.