Z.ai
GLM-5.3 Flash
The cheap multimodal GLM
What it is
Z.ai’s cheap multimodal coding model: 320B total parameters with 18B active, a 1M context, native image input, and $0.15/$0.50 per 1M tokens. Same post-training family as GLM-5.3, built to be the everyday tier.
NLT take
If you want image input and open weights without paying GLM-5.3 prices, this is the lane. It is also the cheapest way here to give an agent eyes on a UI.
Before you switch
The Ollama tag is the GLM-5.3 family page, not a Flash-only build. Check the tag before you pull it.
Cost for a real task
The same task on every model: 50,000 input tokens and 10,000 output tokens, at the base tier.
Task cost
$0.013
50K input + 10K output tokens
- Input, per 1M
- $0.15
- Output, per 1M
- $0.50
- Cached input, per 1M
- $0.030
Pricing source: Z.ai pricing
Specs
- Maker
- Z.ai
- Licence
- Open weights
- Released
- August 26, 2026
- Context window
- 1,000,000 tokens
- Parameters
- 320B total / 18B active
- Max output
- 128,000 tokens
- Input / output
- Text · Image → Text
Also known as: glm-5.3-flash · glm-5.3-flash:cloud
Watch it in action
Hands-on videos from creators we trust. They open on YouTube; we do not host or re-upload them.
GLM 5.3 Flash Is HERE – Is THIS Better Than the FULL GLM 5.3?Bijan BowenWhy watch: Directly tests the Flash-versus-full question this lane exists for.Watch on YouTube(opens YouTube in a new tab)
Is GLM 5.3 Flash The Best Open-Source Model?Hostinger BytesWhy watch: A second opinion on the open-weight value.Watch on YouTube(opens YouTube in a new tab)
From our coverage
Articles about this model or its family. A “Background” tag means we have not covered this exact release yet.
- BackgroundJune 23, 2026GLM-5.2: Open-Weight 1M-Context Coding Model (2026)Z.ai's GLM-5.2 is a 753B-parameter, MIT-licensed open-weight model with a usable 1M-token context. See its coding benchmarks, pricing, and how to run it.
- BackgroundMay 11, 2026Chinese Open-Weight Coding LLMs: 2026's Three-Week SweepIn 17 days, GLM-5.1, Kimi K2.6, and DeepSeek V4 shipped frontier-tier open-weight coding LLMs at a fraction of Western prices. Inside the April 2026 wave.
Sources & model links
Every number on this card traces back to one of these links. The maker page proves the positioning, the pricing page proves the rates, the Hugging Face repo proves the weights exist, and the Ollama page proves a local tag.
Official
- Z.aiVerifies: maker
- Z.ai pricingVerifies: price
- GLM-5.3 Flash documentationVerifies: specs · licence
Open weights
- Hugging Face weightsVerifies: weights · licence
Run locally
- Run with Ollama (tag cloud)Verifies: local runOllama has a dedicated GLM-5.3-Flash library; the published tag is cloud.