GLM-5.3 vs DeepSeek V4 Pro
GLM-5.3 costs $1.40 / $4.40 and DeepSeek V4 Pro costs $1.32 / $3.96 per million input / output tokens. At a typical 3:1 mix, DeepSeek V4 Pro is 1.1× cheaper than GLM-5.3. On Epoch AI’s Capabilities Index they score level (157 vs 156, within each other’s margin of error).
Price
DeepSeek V4 Pro is 1.1× cheaper per token
On a coding agent: $244 vs $458 a month (47% less)
Capability
Level
GLM-5.3 157 (155–159)
DeepSeek V4 Pro 156 (154–158)
DeepSeek V4 Pro 156 (154–158)
Best value at GLM-5.3’s level
GPT-6 Luna, 18× less
Level with or above GLM-5.3 · $25.98 a month on a coding agent · Every option
Input
$1.40
per 1M
Output
$4.40
per 1M
Cached
$0.26
1M context
Input
$1.32
per 1M
Output
$3.96
per 1M
Cached
$0.044
1M context
Side by side
✓ marks the cheaper price, larger context window, bigger discount or higher score.
| Detail | GLM-5.3 | DeepSeek V4 Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1M tokens | ||
| Input | $1.40 | $1.32Lowest |
| Output | $4.40 | $3.96Lowest |
| Blended (3 in : 1 out) | $2.15 | $1.98Lowest |
| Cached input | $0.26 | $0.044Lowest |
| Batch or off-peak discount | None | 50% (off-peak)Largest |
| Long prompts | Same rate at any length | Same rate at any length |
| Limits and model | ||
| Context window | 1M | 1M |
| Capability score Epoch AI index | 157 | 156 |
| Released | 14 Aug 2026 | 24 Apr 2026 |
| Open weights | No | Yes |
| Status | Current | Current |
| Checked | ||
| Price checked | 13 Oct 2026 Z.ai pricing | 6 Nov 2026 DeepSeek pricing |
Monthly cost on three workloads
List prices, no batch discount. The cached share applies where a model has a cache rate.
| Workload | GLM-5.3 | DeepSeek V4 Pro | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer chat assistant50,000 conversations a month, about 2,000 tokens in and 400 out each; 50% cachedPrice this workload in the calculator | $171 | $147Lower | $23.60 |
| Document Q&A (RAG)20,000 questions a month over retrieved documents, 12,000 in and 600 out; 30% cachedPrice this workload in the calculator | $307 | $272Lower | $34.27 |
| Coding agent400 tasks a month, 40 steps each with a growing context; 85% cachedPrice this workload in the calculator | $358 | $208Lower | $150 |
How they differ
- DeepSeek V4 Pro is cheaper on input ($1.32 vs $1.40).
- DeepSeek V4 Pro is cheaper on output ($3.96 vs $4.40), which matters most for long answers and reasoning models.
- Cached input is cheaper on DeepSeek V4 Pro ($0.044 vs $0.26), which favours agents and chat apps that resend the same context.
- DeepSeek V4 Pro has open weights, so you can also run it yourself or choose between hosts.
- On Epoch AI’s Capabilities Index, GLM-5.3 scores 157 and DeepSeek V4 Pro 156, within each other’s margin of error, so treat them as level on general benchmarks. DeepSeek V4 Pro is 1.1× cheaper for a similar score.
Recent changes
All changes- Z.ai added GLM-5.3 FlashX, a faster-serving GLM-5.3 Flash, at $0.37 / $1.25 per 1M tokens.
- DeepSeek V4.1 Flash replaced V4 Flash at $0.30 / $1.20 peak ($0.15 / $0.60 off-peak).
Qwen3.8 Flash ($0.15 / $0.47) and GLM-5.3 Flash ($0.15 / $0.50) launched.- DeepSeek V4 Pro moved to peak and off-peak pricing: $1.32 / $3.96 at peak, down from $1.74 on input and up from $3.48 on output.
$1.74 / $3.48→ $1.32 / $3.96 - Z.ai launched GLM-5.3 at $1.40 / $4.40.
