# GLM-5.3 vs Step 5 Preview

> Side-by-side benchmark comparison for GLM-5.3 and Step 5 Preview across agentic, coding, multimodal, knowledge, reasoning, multilingual, and math tasks.

- Canonical page: https://benchlm.ai/compare/glm-5-3-vs-step-5-preview
- Last updated: September 21, 2026

- Shared sourced benchmarks: 9
- HTML indexing: indexable
- Ranking lane: BenchAlign v5

## Quick Verdict

Pick Step 5 Preview if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GLM-5.3 only makes more sense when its price, context window, or workload-specific category wins matter more than the overall score.

## Summary

- Step 5 Preview leads overall 72 to 66.97.
- The clearest category separation is in reasoning, where the averages are 75.8 for GLM-5.3 and 78.5 for Step 5 Preview.
- The biggest single benchmark swing is ProgramBench in Coding, with scores of 19.0% and 80.5%.
- GLM-5.3 is the cheaper option on output tokens, which matters if you expect large responses or heavy interactive use.

## Model Snapshot

| Property | GLM-5.3 | Step 5 Preview |
|----------|----------|----------|
| Creator | Z.AI | StepFun |
| Type | Open Weight | Pending |
| Reasoning | Reasoning | Reasoning |
| Context | 1M | 1M |
| Overall Score | 66.97 | null |
| Benchmarks Covered | 24 | 22 |
| Pricing (input/output) | $0.00 / $0.00 | $1.00 / $2.70 |

## Category Breakdown

### Agentic

- Winner: Coming soon
- GLM-5.3 public-lane score: 68.7 (Supported · #8/154)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 88.2% | 85.0% | GLM-5.3 |
| terminalBench3 | 28.3% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| CyberGym | 84.5% | 84.7% | Step 5 Preview |
| ExploitGym | 15.0% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Toolathlon-Verified | 73.0% | 74.1% | Step 5 Preview |
| AutomationBench | 48.2% | 44.0% | GLM-5.3 |
| Agents' Last Exam | 28.5% | 29.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| HLE w/ tools | 62.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 (Vals) | 71.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| Terminal-Bench 4.0 | Coming soon | 33.30% | Coming soon |
| MCP Atlas | Coming soon | 85.6% | Coming soon |
| JobBench | Coming soon | 59.0% | Coming soon |
| APEX-Agents | Coming soon | 37.8% | Coming soon |
| DRACO | Coming soon | 83.3% | Coming soon |
| BrowseComp | Coming soon | 88.7% | Coming soon |

### Coding

- Winner: Coming soon
- GLM-5.3 public-lane score: 62 (Supported · #19/156)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| Terminal-Bench 2.1 | 88.2% | 85.0% | GLM-5.3 |
| terminalBench3 | 28.3% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| DeepSWE | 66.9% | 67.7% | Step 5 Preview |
| NL2Repo | 58% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| ProgramBench | 19.0% | 80.5% | Step 5 Preview |
| FrontierSWE | 78.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| sweMarathon | 42.5% | 72.7% | Step 5 Preview |
| PostTrain Bench | 39.8% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| VulcanBench v3 | 78.3% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| OpenHarmony Bench | 60.8% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| FrontierSWE v2 | 30.2% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| LiveCodeBench (Vals) | 80.5% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SWE-bench (Vals) | 95.4% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| SciCode | Coming soon | 58.9% | Coming soon |
| MLS-Bench Lite | Coming soon | 40.5% | Coming soon |

### Reasoning

- Winner: Coming soon
- GLM-5.3 public-lane score: 75.8 (#9/19)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 78.5 (Unranked · 2 rankable rows)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| CritPt | Coming soon | 20.9% | Coming soon |

### Multimodal & Grounded

- Winner: Coming soon
- GLM-5.3 public-lane score: Coming soon
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: 61.2 (#28/49)

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| OfficeQA Pro | Coming soon | 60.3% | Coming soon |
| MMMU-Pro | Coming soon | 76% | Coming soon |

### Knowledge

- Winner: Coming soon
- GLM-5.3 public-lane score: 61.8 (Supported · #29/186)
- Step 5 Preview public-lane score: Coming soon

| Benchmark | GLM-5.3 | Step 5 Preview | Winner |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------|
| GPQA Diamond (Vals) | 88.1% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| MMLU-Pro (Vals) | 86.8% | Coming soon | Coming soon |
| GPQA-D | Coming soon | 93.5% | Coming soon |
| HLE | Coming soon | 46.5% | Coming soon |

## FAQ

### Which is better overall, GLM-5.3 or Step 5 Preview?

Step 5 Preview is ahead overall on BenchLM right now.

### Where is the biggest gap between GLM-5.3 and Step 5 Preview?

The widest category gap is in reasoning, where the averages are 75.8 for GLM-5.3 and 78.5 for Step 5 Preview.

### How many benchmarks does GLM-5.3 cover on BenchLM?

GLM-5.3 currently has 24 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

### How many benchmarks does Step 5 Preview cover on BenchLM?

Step 5 Preview currently has 22 sourced benchmark scores on BenchLM.

## Related Comparisons

- [GLM-5.3 vs GLM-5.2](/compare/glm-5-2-vs-glm-5-3)
- [Step 5 Preview vs GLM-5.2](/compare/glm-5-2-vs-step-5-preview)
- [GLM-5.3 vs GLM-5.3-Flash](/compare/glm-5-3-vs-glm-5-3-flash)
- [Step 5 Preview vs GLM-5.3-Flash](/compare/glm-5-3-flash-vs-step-5-preview)

## Explore More

- [GLM-5.3 profile](/models/glm-5-3)
- [Step 5 Preview profile](/models/step-5-preview)
- [Compare Pricing](/llm-pricing)
- [Alternative Finder](/tools/alternative-finder)
- [LLM Selector](/tools/llm-selector)
- [Overall Rankings](/best/overall)