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GLM-5.1 vs MAI-Thinking-1

Head-to-head comparison across 3benchmark categories. Overall scores shown here use BenchLM's provisional ranking lane.

GLM-5.1

82

VS

MAI-Thinking-1

65

1 categoriesvs2 categories

Verified leaderboard positions: GLM-5.1 #28 · MAI-Thinking-1 #23

Pick GLM-5.1 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. MAI-Thinking-1 only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 256K context window.

Category Radar

Head-to-Head by Category

Category Breakdown

Agentic

GLM-5.1
65.3vs46

+19.3 difference

Coding

MAI-Thinking-1
60.9vs71

+10.1 difference

Knowledge

MAI-Thinking-1
52.3vs69.9

+17.6 difference

Operational Comparison

GLM-5.1

MAI-Thinking-1

Price (per 1M tokens)

$1.4 / $4.4

N/A

Speed

N/A

N/A

Latency (TTFT)

N/A

N/A

Context Window

203K

256K

Quick Verdict

Pick GLM-5.1 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. MAI-Thinking-1 only becomes the better choice if knowledge is the priority or you need the larger 256K context window.

GLM-5.1 is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 82 to 65. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GLM-5.1's sharpest advantage is in agentic, where it averages 65.3 against 46. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is Terminal-Bench 2.0, 63.5% to 46%. MAI-Thinking-1 does hit back in knowledge, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

MAI-Thinking-1 gives you the larger context window at 256K, compared with 203K for GLM-5.1.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Frequently Asked Questions (4)

Which is better, GLM-5.1 or MAI-Thinking-1?

GLM-5.1 is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 82 to 65. The biggest single separator in this matchup is Terminal-Bench 2.0, where the scores are 63.5% and 46%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GLM-5.1 or MAI-Thinking-1?

MAI-Thinking-1 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 69.9 versus 52.3. Inside this category, GPQA-D is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GLM-5.1 or MAI-Thinking-1?

MAI-Thinking-1 has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 71 versus 60.9. Inside this category, SWE-bench Pro is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GLM-5.1 or MAI-Thinking-1?

GLM-5.1 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 65.3 versus 46. Inside this category, Terminal-Bench 2.0 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Self-host vs API cost

Estimates at 50,000 req/day · 1000 tokens/req average.

GLM-5.1
API / mo$4,350
Self-host / mo$18,221
Break-even264M/day
MAI-Thinking-1
API / mo$0
Self-host / moN/A
Break-even
Proprietary model — self-hosting not applicable.
Model the full break-even

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Last updated: June 8, 2026

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