Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) vs Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash (batch)

For a sample job of 1 million input tokens and 250,000 output tokens, GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) costs $0.095 and Gemini 3.6 Flash (batch) costs $0.84, so GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) is about 8.9 times cheaper for the same work.

Both read up to 1,048,576 tokens at once, roughly 1,573 pages of text.

Only Gemini 3.6 Flash (batch) offers audio input.

Across the 20 tasks where they differ, GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) scores higher on 20 (SQL Generation, Code Review, Code Completion and others).

GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) was released in August 2026 and Gemini 3.6 Flash (batch) in July 2026.

Pick GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) if you need lower cost or the stronger all-round task scores; pick Gemini 3.6 Flash (batch) if you need audio input.

Costs use current list prices per million tokens; page counts assume about 0.75 words per token and 500 words per page.