GLM 5.3 Flash vs Llama 3.1.8 B Instruct: cost comparison
Prices updated 2026-10-30 · computed from live provider data
Short answer: GLM 5.3 Flash is cheaper on a
3:1 input/output blend — $0.054 per million tokens versus
$0.058, a 6% difference.
GLM 5.3 Flash offers the larger context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Llama 3.1.8 B Instruct.
Head to head
| GLM 5.3 Flash | Llama 3.1.8 B Instruct | |
|---|---|---|
| Input, per 1M tokens | $0.049 | $0.050 |
| Output, per 1M tokens | $0.070 | $0.080 |
| Blended 3:1, per 1M | $0.054 | $0.058 |
| Context window | 1,048,576 | 131,072 |
| Vendor | z-ai | meta-llama |
Monthly cost at real volumes
| Workload (input / output) | GLM 5.3 Flash | Llama 3.1.8 B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| 1M in / 250K out | $0.066 | $0.070 |
| 10M in / 2.5M out | $0.662 | $0.700 |
| 100M in / 25M out | $6.62 | $7.00 |
Which should you pick?
Pick GLM 5.3 Flash when you need the longer context window (1,048,576 vs 131,072 tokens). Pick GLM 5.3 Flash when price per token dominates your workload — high-volume classification, extraction, or batch summarisation.