BenchLeader

Claude Opus 4.8 vs GLM-5

Full profiles: Claude Opus 4.8 (Anthropic) and GLM-5 (Zhipu AI): every benchmark, price and rank.

Updated · Data from 9 sources

As of 29 Oct 2026, Claude Opus 4.8 and GLM-5 are neck and neck on quality (60.6 vs 60.2 on the BenchLeader Index, inside the ±6.4 margin), and GLM-5 is 6.5× cheaper at $1.55 vs $10.00 per 1M tokens blended. Choose Claude Opus 4.8 for maths (67 vs 63) and coding (61 vs 59) and fast first answers (1.3 s vs 46.8 s); choose GLM-5 for reasoning (68 vs 61).

Key facts (as of 29 Oct 2026)

  • Claude Opus 4.8 scores 60.6 on the BenchLeader Index and GLM-5 scores 60.2 (BenchLeader, 29 Oct 2026).
  • Claude Opus 4.8 costs $10.00 per 1M tokens blended (list price, 29 Oct 2026).
  • GLM-5 costs $1.55 per 1M tokens blended (list price, 29 Oct 2026).

Which to pick for…

The pick's numbers come first. Category scores on the BenchLeader scale (50 is the average model, 15 points one standard deviation). High confidence means a lead of half a standard deviation or more; under one point is called either.

Use casePickWhyConfidence
CodingClaude Opus 4.861 vs 59 category scoreMedium
MathsClaude Opus 4.867 vs 63 category scoreMedium
ReasoningGLM-568 vs 61 category scoreHigh
Chat quality (human preference)–Only Claude Opus 4.8 has an Arena rating (67 category score)Not comparable
Lowest costGLM-5$1.55 vs $10.00 per 1M blended; agentic coding session $0.073 vs $0.400–
Fastest first answerClaude Opus 4.81.3 s (Claude Opus 4.8 (high)) vs 46.8 s (GLM-5 (thinking)) to the first answer token–
High volume on a budgetNeither flagshipA smaller model is usually the better fit: Cheapest good LLMs, Fastest LLMs–

Key differences

  • Claude Opus 4.8 (high) and GLM-5 (thinking) are neck and neck on quality (60.6 vs 60.2, within the ±6.4 margin).
  • Claude Opus 4.8 (high) is stronger in coding, human preference, maths, multimodal.
  • GLM-5 (thinking) is stronger in reasoning, agents & tools, instruction following, knowledge, long context.
  • GLM-5 (thinking) is 6.5× cheaper ($1.55 vs $10.00 per 1M blended).

At a glance

SpecClaude Opus 4.8GLM-5
DeveloperAnthropicZhipu AI
Released28 May 202611 Feb 2026
Context window (tokens)1,000,000204,800
Compared atClaude Opus 4.8 (high)GLM-5 (thinking)
Open weightsNoYes
Price in / out / cached input per 1M$5.00 / $25.00 / $0.500$1.00 / $3.20 / $0.149

Category by category

Category scores on the BenchLeader scale: 50 is the average evaluated model, 15 points is one standard deviation. A gap under one point is called level.

CategoryClaude Opus 4.8 (high)GLM-5 (thinking)Leader
Reasoning60.668.2GLM-5
Coding61.459.1Claude Opus 4.8
Agents & tools–58.0not comparable
Maths67.463.2Claude Opus 4.8
Knowledge–57.3not comparable
Instruction following–70.8not comparable
Human preference67.2–not comparable
Multimodal63.9–not comparable
Long context–62.6not comparable

Where sources disagree

Across the 0 benchmarks both have, Claude Opus 4.8 leads 0, GLM-5 leads 0. Every overall index that rates both puts Claude Opus 4.8 ahead.

Overall indexClaude Opus 4.8 (high)GLM-5 (thinking)Leader
BenchLeader Index60.660.2neck and neck
Arena Text14821457†Claude Opus 4.8

Each publisher runs its own tasks, harnesses and effort settings, so their overall verdicts can differ; BenchLeader reconciles them on one scale. † measured at another effort setting of the same model (the publisher did not test the one compared here).

Price, speed and latency

List prices blended at three input tokens per output token. Per-task prices use the token counts on the methodology page; suite cost is what Artificial Analysis paid to run its whole Intelligence Index.

MeasureClaude Opus 4.8 (high)GLM-5 (thinking)
Blended price per 1M tokens$10.00$1.55
Input / output per 1M$5.00 / $25.00$1.00 / $3.20
Cached input per 1M$0.500$0.149
Price per task: chat reply$0.0095$0.0014
Price per task: summarize a 30-page report$0.075$0.014
Price per task: code edit$0.068$0.011
Price per task: agentic coding session$0.400$0.073
Price per task: structured extraction$0.015$0.0026
Output speed69 tok/s69 tok/s
Time to first answer1.3 s46.8 s
Time to a complete answer–54.0 s

Each model is compared at its best-ranked reasoning-effort setting. Claude Opus 4.8 (high) scores 60.6 and takes 1 s to its first answer token; Claude Opus 4.8 (max) scores 60.2 in 24 s, Claude Opus 4.8 scores 60.0 in 1 s. GLM-5 (thinking) scores 60.2 and takes 47 s to its first answer token; GLM-5 scores 54.9 in 2 s. Higher effort means more thinking before the answer: better scores, longer waits and more tokens billed. How reasoning effort changes scores and cost.

Every benchmark

127 benchmarks, grouped by category; each name links to the board and its leaders. † measured at another effort setting of the same model, shown for reference and not counted as a win.

MetricPublisherClaude Opus 4.8 (high)GLM-5 (thinking)
BenchLeader IndexBenchLeader60.660.2
Coding scoreBenchLeader61.459.1
Human preference scoreBenchLeader67.2–
Maths scoreBenchLeader67.463.2
Multimodal scoreBenchLeader63.9–
Reasoning scoreBenchLeader60.668.2
Agents & tools scoreBenchLeader–58.0
Instruction following scoreBenchLeader–70.8
Knowledge scoreBenchLeader–57.3
Long context scoreBenchLeader–62.6
Blended price $/MBenchLeader$10.00$1.55
Output speedBenchLeader69 tok/s69 tok/s
Time to first answerBenchLeader1.3 s46.8 s
Context windowBenchLeader1,000,000 tokens204,800 tokens
Reasoning
GPQA DiamondEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub91.0%†87.8%†
SimpleBenchSimpleBench64.8%†53.2%†
Arena Hard PromptsArena (LMArena)15131478†
LiveBench 1.0 ReasoningLiveBench89.2%†–
GPQA Diamond (AA)Artificial Analysis92.0%†82.0%
Humanity's Last Exam (AA)Artificial Analysis48.7%†29.3%
GPQA Diamond (Vals)Vals AI92.4%†83.3%
EnigmaEvalScale AI SEAL23.5%†–
Kagi LLM BenchmarkKagi LLM Benchmark88.8%†75.0%
ARC-AGI-1ARC Prize92.0%44.7%†
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize72.1%4.9%†
ARC-AGI-3ARC Prize1.5%–
CritPtArtificial Analysis20.9%†2.0%
Chess PuzzlesEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub52.0%†–
Mystery Game PuzzlesEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub36.0%†–
CL-benchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub–18.7%†
LMCAEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub57.5%†–
DTBenchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub94.9%†–
ForecastBenchForecastBench62.7%†63.7%†
BTF-3Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub14.0%–
Coding
SWE-bench Verified (Epoch)Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub–72.1%†
SciCodeSciCode53.5%†–
WeirdMLWeirdML70.5%†48.2%†
FrontierCodeCognition46.5%†–
GSO-BenchGSO-Bench47.1%†–
Show all 127 benchmarks
MetricPublisherClaude Opus 4.8 (high)GLM-5 (thinking)
Coding
Arena CodingArena (LMArena)15341498†
Arena WebDevArena (LMArena)15561436†
LiveBench 1.0 CodingLiveBench81.8%†–
SciCode (AA)Artificial Analysis54.4%†–
LiveCodeBenchVals AI87.8%†81.9%
SWE-bench (Vals)Vals AI88.6%†71.4%
SWE-bench Verified (bash only)SWE-bench–72.8%†
SWE-bench Verified (any scaffold)SWE-bench–72.8%†
Code MigrationVals AI47.3%†–
ProgramBenchVals AI1.0%†–
Vibe Code Bench v1.1Vals AI82.7%†23.4%
SWE Atlas: Codebase QnAScale AI SEAL57.3%†20.5%†
SWE Atlas: RefactoringScale AI SEAL46.7%†24.2%†
SWE Atlas: Test WritingScale AI SEAL49.6%†28.7%†
Surface Evolver BenchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub87.5%–
DeepSWE v1.1Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub51.8%–
ALE-BenchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub1563.8765.6†
Terminal-Bench 4.0 (AA)Artificial Analysis21.7%†–
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (AA)Artificial Analysis84.6%†–
Agents & tools
Terminal-BenchTerminal-Bench23.6%†52.4%†
OSWorld-Verified 2.0OSWorld20.6%†–
Remote Labor IndexScale AI / CAIS8.3%†–
APEX-AgentsMercor48.9%†–
LiveBench Agentic CodingLiveBench50.5%†–
Terminal-Bench HardArtificial Analysis58.3%†43.2%
τ²-Bench Telecom (AA)Artificial Analysis94.4%†98.3%
Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals)Vals AI71.9%†–
MCP AtlasScale AI SEAL82.2%†–
HiL-BenchScale AI SEAL35.3%†–
τ²-benchτ²-bench–81.0%
τ³-bench Bankingτ²-bench39.7%†9.8%
τ³-Banking (AA)Artificial Analysis34.2%†–
Analyst Agent (AA)Artificial Analysis45.0%†–
APEX-Agents (AA)Artificial Analysis–14.4%
Finance Agent v2Vals AI53.9%†–
Harvey's Legal Agent Benchmark v1Vals AI9.6%†–
Legal Research BenchVals AI43.8%†–
SkillsBenchVals AI59.2%†–
Tax Agent BenchVals AI30.0%†–
Terminal-Bench 2.0 (Vals)Vals AI70.0%†49.4%
Terminal-Bench 4.0 (Vals)Vals AI23.2%†–
Terminal-Bench ScienceVals AI4.3%†–
Time Horizon Index: KSPVals AI11.8%†–
Arena SearchArena (LMArena)1195†–
DeepResearch BenchDeepResearch Bench50.2%–
PostTrainBenchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub33.8%–
GBAEvalEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub70.9%†–
Vending-Bench 2Andon Labs5787.4†4432.1†
AutomationBenchArtificial Analysis45.6%†–
GDP.pdf (AA)Artificial Analysis22.8%†–
EnterpriseOps-GymArtificial Analysis44.0%†–
AA-Briefcase v1.1Artificial Analysis1320†–
FACTS SearchGoogle79.6%†–
Maths
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub80.0%†–
FrontierMath Tier 4Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub56.1%†–
OTIS Mock AIMEEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub98.3%†80.0%†
ProofBenchVals AI69.0%†–
LiveBench MathematicsLiveBench94.3%†–
AIME (Vals)Vals AI–91.7%
AIME 2026MathArena100.0%†96.7%†
HMMT February 2026MathArena95.5%†86.4%†
USAMO 2026MathArena–35.1%†
MathArena ApexMathArena81.3%†10.9%†
Arena MathsArena (LMArena)14931444†
Knowledge
SimpleQA VerifiedEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub53.0%†–
LiveBench 1.0 Data AnalysisLiveBench66.0%†–
MMLU-ProVals AI89.6%†86.0%
LegalBenchVals AI83.6%†84.1%
CorpFinVals AI66.7%†62.9%
TaxEvalVals AI75.6%†70.0%
MedQAVals AI–94.3%
CaseLaw v2Vals AI–52.5%
Excel Modeling BenchmarkVals AI69.4%†–
MedCodeVals AI53.2%†–
MedScribeVals AI85.8%†–
Public Benefits Bench v1.1Vals AI68.1%†–
DrugDiscoveryBenchScale AI SEAL46.8%†–
EBR-benchEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub28.6%†–
GDP.pdfEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub24.0%†–
Instruction following
LiveBench LanguageLiveBench79.7%†–
LiveBench Instruction FollowingLiveBench72.0%†–
IFBenchArtificial Analysis62.2%†72.3%
Arena Instruction FollowingArena (LMArena)14921447†
Human preference
Arena TextArena (LMArena)14821457†
EQ-Bench 4EQ-Bench1268†–
Arena Creative WritingArena (LMArena)14691448†
Arena Multi-turnArena (LMArena)14971471†
Arena Longer QueriesArena (LMArena)15031468†
Multimodal
Arena VisionArena (LMArena)1295–
MMMU-Pro (Vals)Vals AI86.6%†–
MortgageTaxVals AI69.9%†–
Blueprint-Bench 2Epoch AI Benchmarking Hub14.5%†–
Long context
AA-LCR v1.1Artificial Analysis77.7%†75.7%
Arena DocumentArena (LMArena)1486–
MLCRArtificial Analysis19.4%†–
Composite
Epoch Capabilities IndexEpoch AI Benchmarking Hub159†145.8†
LiveBench 1.0LiveBench76.2%†–
AA Intelligence Index v4.3.2Artificial Analysis41.8†27.9
AA Progress Index v1Artificial Analysis318.4†280.9
Vals RSI IndexVals AI24.0%†–
Vals Multimodal IndexVals AI70.9%†–
Safety & honesty
FORTRESSScale AI SEAL18.2%†–

Data as of 2026-10-29. Best configuration of each model; every score links to its source on the model pages.

What changed

  • GLM-5 (thinking): cached input price moved from $0.20/M to $0.15/M (25% down).
  • GLM-5 (thinking): BenchLeader Index 60.6 → 60.1.
  • GLM-5 (thinking): 1 new result (AA Progress Index v1); cached input price moved from $0.15/M to $0.20/M (34% up).
  • GLM-5 (thinking): cached input price moved from $0.20/M to $0.15/M (25% down).
  • GLM-5 (thinking): cached input price moved from $0.15/M to $0.20/M (34% up).
  • GLM-5 (thinking): cached input price moved from $0.20/M to $0.15/M (25% down).
  • GLM-5 (thinking): cached input price moved from $0.15/M to $0.20/M (34% up).
  • Claude Opus 4.8 (high): BenchLeader Index 61.1 → 60.6.
  • GLM-5 (thinking): cached input price moved from $0.20/M to $0.15/M (25% down).
  • GLM-5 (thinking): 1 new result (τ³-bench Banking).

Rankings: Best LLM overall · Best LLM for agents · Best cheap LLMs

Claude Opus 4.8 vs GLM-5: questions

Is Claude Opus 4.8 better than GLM-5?
Claude Opus 4.8 (high) and GLM-5 (thinking) are neck and neck on quality (60.6 vs 60.2, within the ±6.4 margin). The BenchLeader Index combines every independent quality benchmark; the two are within the margin of error as of 29 Oct 2026, so check the category scores for your use.
Claude Opus 4.8 vs GLM-5: which is cheaper, and will that change?
GLM-5 is cheaper today: $1.55 against $10.00 per million tokens, blended at three input tokens per output token. No price change has been announced for either.
Is Claude Opus 4.8 or GLM-5 better for coding?
Claude Opus 4.8 scores higher in coding (61 vs 59 on the category index, where 50 is average).
Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.8 or GLM-5?
Claude Opus 4.8 streams faster (69 vs 69 output tokens per second, Artificial Analysis 7-day median).
Which is better for long documents?
Claude Opus 4.8 accepts more context: 1,000,000 against 204,800 tokens for GLM-5.
More questions (2)
Which has lower latency?
Claude Opus 4.8 answers first: 1.3 s against 46.8 s to the first answer token, as Artificial Analysis measures it. Reasoning effort drives most of this: a higher setting thinks longer before it answers.
When was Claude Opus 4.8 released?
Claude Opus 4.8 was released on 28 May 2026.