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Model comparison

GLM-5 vs Qwen3.6-35B-A3B

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 33 shared benchmark results across 6 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

Z.AI
65.98/100
Margin
14.6pts
← winning
51.36/100
2 category wins2 category wins

Verified leaderboard positions: GLM-5 #15; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B #31

BenchAlign evidence: GLM-5 supported; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B estimated. Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. GLM-5 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B share 33 comparable benchmark results. 4 of 8 categories are comparable. 17 results are unique to GLM-5; 25 to Qwen3.6-35B-A3B.

Updated July 15, 2026
Shared results
33
GLM-5 only
17
Qwen3.6-35B-A3B only
25
Comparable categories
4 / 8

Pick GLM-5 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B only becomes the better choice if mathematics is the priority or you need the larger 262K context window.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 33 shared benchmark results across 6 evidence categories; 4 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

GLM-5 is clearly ahead on the provisional aggregate, 63 to 59. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GLM-5's sharpest advantage is in knowledge, where it averages 66.6 against 51.8. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is HLE, 50.4% to 21.4%. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B does hit back in mathematics, so the answer changes if that is the part of the workload you care about most.

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B is the reasoning model in the pair, while GLM-5 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. Qwen3.6-35B-A3B gives you the larger context window at 262K, compared with 200K for GLM-5.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for GLM-5 and Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
CategoryGLM-5ΔQwen3.6-35B-A3B
MathGLM-556.3Margin 31.9Qwen3.6-35B-A3B88.2
KnowledgeGLM-566.6Margin 14.8Qwen3.6-35B-A3B51.8
CodingGLM-566.3Margin 7.5Qwen3.6-35B-A3B73.8
AgenticGLM-556.2Margin 4.7Qwen3.6-35B-A3B51.5
ReasoningGLM-560.8MarginNo overlapQwen3.6-35B-A3BNot measured
MultilingualGLM-583.1MarginNo overlapQwen3.6-35B-A3BNot measured
MultimodalGLM-5Not measuredMarginNo overlapQwen3.6-35B-A3B76.3
Inst. FollowingGLM-592.6MarginNo overlapQwen3.6-35B-A3BNot measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

More
A · GLM-5B · Qwen3.6-35B-A3B
  1. HLE

    Knowledge
    Source ↗
    A 50.4%B 21.4%
    Winner: GLM-5Δ 29
    HLE: GLM-5 scored 50.4%; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B scored 21.4%. GLM-5 wins this benchmark.
  2. SWE-bench Pro

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 55.1%B 49.5%
    Winner: GLM-5Δ 5.6
    SWE-bench Pro: GLM-5 scored 55.1%; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B scored 49.5%. GLM-5 wins this benchmark.
  3. Terminal-Bench 2.0

    Agentic
    Source ↗
    A 56.2%B 51.5%
    Winner: GLM-5Δ 4.7
    Terminal-Bench 2.0: GLM-5 scored 56.2%; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B scored 51.5%. GLM-5 wins this benchmark.
  4. SWE-bench Verified

    Coding
    Source ↗
    A 77.8%B 73.4%
    Winner: GLM-5Δ 4.4
    SWE-bench Verified: GLM-5 scored 77.8%; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B scored 73.4%. GLM-5 wins this benchmark.
  5. AIME26

    Math
    Source ↗
    A 95.8%B 92.7%
    Winner: GLM-5Δ 3.1
    AIME26: GLM-5 scored 95.8%; Qwen3.6-35B-A3B scored 92.7%. GLM-5 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

MetricGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BComparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokensGLM-5$1 input / $3.2 outputQwen3.6-35B-A3BNot availableA complete price comparison is not available.
Generation speedtokens per secondGLM-574 tok/sQwen3.6-35B-A3BNot availableA complete speed comparison is not available.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokenGLM-51.64 sQwen3.6-35B-A3BNot availableA complete latency comparison is not available.
Context windowmaximum listed tokensGLM-5200KQwen3.6-35B-A3B262KQwen3.6-35B-A3B lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

AgenticGLM-5 wins
BenchmarkGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BResult
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 56.2%51.5%GLM-5 leads
Claw-EvalSource 57.7%68.7%Qwen3.6-35B-A3B leads
QwenClawBenchSource 54.1%52.6%GLM-5 leads
τ³-bench resultsSource 65.6%67.2%Qwen3.6-35B-A3B leads
DeepPlanningSource 14.6%25.9%Qwen3.6-35B-A3B leads
ToolathlonSource 38%26.9%GLM-5 leads
MCP AtlasSource 31.1%62.8%Qwen3.6-35B-A3B leads
MCP-TasksSource 60.8%Not comparable
WideResearchSource 69.8%60.1%GLM-5 leads
τ²-bench resultsSource 98.2%95.3%GLM-5 leads
CyberGymSource 43.2%Not comparable
APEX-Agents-AASource 14.5%Not comparable
Gert LabsSource 50.99%42.65%GLM-5 leads
QwenWebBenchSource 1397Not comparable
VITA-BenchSource 35.6%Not comparable
AA Agentic IndexSource 21.4%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 27.4%Not comparable
GDPval-AASource 1049Not comparable
CodingQwen3.6-35B-A3B wins
BenchmarkGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BResult
SWE-bench VerifiedSource 77.8%73.4%GLM-5 leads
SWE-bench Verified*Source 72.8%Not comparable
SWE-bench ProSource 55.1%49.5%GLM-5 leads
SWE MultilingualSource 73.3%67.2%GLM-5 leads
SWE-RebenchSource 62.8%Not comparable
React Native EvalsSource 74.8%Not comparable
Terminal-Bench HardSource 43.2%34.8%GLM-5 leads
AA-SciCodeSource 46.2%35.8%GLM-5 leads
Terminal-Bench 2.0Source 51.5%Not comparable
LiveCodeBenchSource 80.4%Not comparable
NL2RepoSource 29.4%Not comparable
AA Coding IndexSource 41.9%Not comparable
Reasoning
BenchmarkGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BResult
LongBench v2Source 60.8%Not comparable
AI-NeedleSource 63.3%Not comparable
AA-LCRSource 63.3%63.7%Qwen3.6-35B-A3B leads
CritPtSource 2.0%0.3%GLM-5 leads
KnowledgeGLM-5 wins
BenchmarkGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BResult
GPQASource 86%86%Tie
GPQA-DSource 86.0%Not comparable
SuperGPQASource 66.8%64.7%GLM-5 leads
MMLU-ProSource 85.7%85.2%GLM-5 leads
MMLU-Pro (Arcee)Source 85.8%Not comparable
HLESource 50.4%21.4%GLM-5 leads
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 39.5%31.6%GLM-5 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 82.0%84.1%Qwen3.6-35B-A3B leads
AA-HLESource 27.2%20.2%GLM-5 leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource 2.0%-21.4%GLM-5 leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 26.9%18.9%GLM-5 leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 34.0%49.7%GLM-5 leads
C-EvalSource 90%Not comparable
MathQwen3.6-35B-A3B wins
BenchmarkGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BResult
AIME26Source 95.8%92.7%GLM-5 leads
AIME25 (Arcee)Source 93.3%Not comparable
HMMT Feb 2025Source 97.5%90.7%GLM-5 leads
HMMT Nov 2025Source 96.9%89.1%GLM-5 leads
HMMT Feb 2026Source 86.4%83.6%GLM-5 leads
MMAnswerBenchSource 82.5%78.9%GLM-5 leads
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 16.434%Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source 2.100%Not comparable
Multilingual
BenchmarkGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BResult
MMLU-ProXSource 83.1%Not comparable
NOVA-63Source 55.1%Not comparable
Multimodal
BenchmarkGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BResult
Design Arena WebsiteSource 1282Not comparable
MMMUSource 81.7%Not comparable
MMMU-ProSource 75.3%Not comparable
RealWorldQASource 85.3%Not comparable
OmniDocBench 1.5Source 89.9%Not comparable
CharXivSource 78%Not comparable
SimpleVQASource 58.9%Not comparable
CC-OCRSource 81.9%Not comparable
AI2D_TESTSource 92.7%Not comparable
RefCOCO (avg)Source 92.0%Not comparable
ODINW13Source 50.8%Not comparable
Video-MME (with subtitle)Source 86.6%Not comparable
Video-MME (w/o subtitle)Source 82.5%Not comparable
VideoMMMUSource 83.7%Not comparable
MLVU (M-Avg)Source 86.2%Not comparable
AA-MMMU-ProSource 75.0%Not comparable
Inst. Following
BenchmarkGLM-5Qwen3.6-35B-A3BResult
IFEvalSource 92.6%Not comparable
AA-IFBenchSource 72.3%64.4%GLM-5 leads
Frequently Asked Questions (5)

Which is better, GLM-5 or Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

GLM-5 is ahead on BenchLM's provisional leaderboard, 63 to 59. The biggest single separator in this matchup is HLE, where the scores are 50.4% and 21.4%.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GLM-5 or Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

GLM-5 has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 66.6 versus 51.8. Inside this category, HLE is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for coding, GLM-5 or Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B has the edge for coding in this comparison, averaging 73.8 versus 66.3. Inside this category, AA-SciCode is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for math, GLM-5 or Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

Qwen3.6-35B-A3B has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 88.2 versus 56.3. Inside this category, HMMT Nov 2025 is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Which is better for agentic tasks, GLM-5 or Qwen3.6-35B-A3B?

GLM-5 has the edge for agentic tasks in this comparison, averaging 56.2 versus 51.5. Inside this category, MCP Atlas is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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Last updated: July 15, 2026

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