Every Zhipu (GLM) model, side by side
Zhipu's GLM line is open weights top to bottom, and its best model is a serious writer: GLM-5.3 ranks #12 on the whole board. At the other end, GLM-4.5 Air lands at #163, 1598 Elo lower. That spread is basically a history lesson. The GLM-5 generation sits far above the GLM-4 one, so the version number tells you more than the brand does.
All 7 configurations
Every configuration here wrote the same 10 scripts for the same four blind judges, so the writing Elo and ranks compare across the whole board, not just inside this family. A highlighted row is a model's best configuration, and the rows under it are the same model at other effort or thinking settings. Scores run 0 to 100, and cost is one full script at the API list price of the route we ran.
| Board rank | Configuration | Elo | Overall | Tone | Craft | Substance | Hook | YouTube | Flow | Slop | Length | Cues | Cost / script | Time / script |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #12 | GLM-5.3 · open | 2253 ±35 | 88.5 | 89.3 | 89.2 | 87.3 | 88.7 | 88.3 | 87.3 | 90.7 | 90.4 | 83.5 | $0.114 | 5.2 min |
| #18 | GLM-5.3 Flash · open | 2222 ±44 | 88.2 | 88.3 | 89.0 | 86.5 | 88.6 | 87.9 | 87.2 | 91.4 | 91.3 | 83.7 | $0.015 | 6.6 min |
| #80 | GLM-5 · open | 1649 ±42 | 82.7 | 83.3 | 83.8 | 83.1 | 85.3 | 82.4 | 80.1 | 87.1 | 78.5 | 80.3 | $0.061 | 3.1 min |
| #96 | GLM-5.2 · open | 1529 ±46 | 81.4 | 83.2 | 83.8 | 83.3 | 84.6 | 79.6 | 79.8 | 86.0 | 68.0 | 82.0 | $0.041 | 1.1 min |
| #125 | GLM-4.7 · open | 1215 ±34 | 77.0 | 76.3 | 79.3 | 76.8 | 82.2 | 72.1 | 76.6 | 81.3 | 74.0 | 76.3 | $0.016 | 3.5 min |
| #138 | GLM-4.6 · open | 1111 ±49 | 74.7 | 75.1 | 78.2 | 75.6 | 81.2 | 71.8 | 74.0 | 77.0 | 63.2 | 73.4 | $0.014 | 1.2 min |
| #163 | GLM-4.5 Air · open | 656 ±43 | 67.1 | 67.3 | 70.6 | 69.0 | 75.9 | 64.8 | 65.2 | 70.4 | 49.5 | 70.0 | $0.0061 | 1.4 min |
Which one should you use?
If you only care about the score, GLM-5.3 is the one. But the pick I'd actually make is GLM-5.3 Flash. It's only 31 Elo behind, their ranges overlap, and GLM-5.3 costs 7.7 times as much. The catch is time, and oddly the Flash is the slower one here: GLM-5.3 Flash takes 6.6 minutes per script against 5.2 minutes for GLM-5.3.
GLM-4.5 Air is the cheapest GLM at $0.0061, but it sits at #163, so I wouldn't write with it. Going one rung up doesn't help much either: GLM-4.7 costs about what GLM-5.3 Flash costs and lands 1007 Elo lower, so I wouldn't drop to the GLM-4 generation for writing at all.
Every row links to its full scorecard, and the cross-lab match-ups live in the head-to-head comparisons.
← All comparisons