Claude Opus 4.6 vs GLM-4.5-Air

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing.

Claude Opus 4.6 by Anthropic wins on 5 of 8 benchmarks against GLM-4.5-Air by Zhipu AI, which leads on 3. This head-to-head comparison covers coding, math, reasoning, speed, and pricing metrics from our benchmark data.

Category-by-Category Breakdown

Coding: In coding, Claude Opus 4.6 scores 1289 on Design Arena ELO compared to GLM-4.5-Air's 1145, while Claude Opus 4.6 scores 1298 on Website Arena ELO compared to GLM-4.5-Air's 1159.

Reasoning: In reasoning, Claude Opus 4.6 scores 85.3% on GPQA Diamond compared to GLM-4.5-Air's 64.7%, while Claude Opus 4.6 scores 75.7% on τ²-Bench Airline compared to GLM-4.5-Air's 70.9%.

Context: In context, Claude Opus 4.6 scores 1.0M on Context Length compared to GLM-4.5-Air's 131K.

Pricing Comparison

Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.0/1M input tokens and $25.0/1M output tokens, while GLM-4.5-Air costs $0.13/1M input and $0.85/1M output. GLM-4.5-Air is the more affordable option for API usage.

Verdict

GLM-4.5-Air leads across the board in affordability, making it the stronger overall choice in this comparison.

Claude Opus 4.6 vs GLM-4.5-Air — FAQ

Which is better, Claude Opus 4.6 or GLM-4.5-Air?

Claude Opus 4.6 wins on more benchmarks overall (5 vs 3). However, the best choice depends on your specific needs — each model excels in different areas.

How does Claude Opus 4.6 compare to GLM-4.5-Air for coding?

SWE-bench Verified data is not available for both models. Check the detailed comparison charts above for other coding-related metrics.

Is Claude Opus 4.6 cheaper than GLM-4.5-Air?

Yes, GLM-4.5-Air is cheaper. Claude Opus 4.6 costs $5.0/1M input and $25.0/1M output tokens. GLM-4.5-Air costs $0.13/1M input and $0.85/1M output tokens.

Which is faster, Claude Opus 4.6 or GLM-4.5-Air?

Output speed data is not available for both models. Check the speed section of the comparison above for available performance data.

What benchmarks does the Claude Opus 4.6 vs GLM-4.5-Air comparison cover?

This comparison covers 8 benchmarks including GPQA Diamond, Input Cost, Output Cost, Context Length, Cached Input Cost, Design Arena ELO, τ²-Bench Airline, Website Arena ELO. Metrics span general intelligence, coding, math, reasoning, speed, and cost categories.