Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 vs Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)

Neither wins outright: Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 is the pick when you need file / PDF input, Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) when cost matters at scale.

Key numbers

SpecAnthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)
ProviderAnthropicZ Ai
Input price (per 1M tokens)$0.10$0.05
Output price (per 1M tokens)$0.50$0.18
Blended price (3:1 input/output)$0.20$0.08
Cheaper than … of all models we track69%83%
Context window1M tokens (~1,500 pages)1.0M tokens (~1,573 pages)
Larger context than … of all models69%81%
Max output per response128K tokens (~96,000 words)131K tokens (~98,300 words)
Input typestext, image, filetext, image, video
Output typestexttext
Free variantNoNo
Listed since2026-10-072026-08-26
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What it costs for real workloads

Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.

Workload (per month)Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)Difference
Customer-support chatbot
50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens)
$17.50$7.35Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) saves $10.15
RAG search over documents
20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens)
$17.00$7.80Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) saves $9.20
Coding / tool-using agent
2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens)
$18.00$8.16Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) saves $9.84
Batch summarisation
10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens)
$11.00$5.08Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) saves $5.92
Long-document analysis
500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens)
$5.50$2.68Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) saves $2.82

Capabilities side by side

CapabilityAnthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)What it lets you do
Tool / function calling✓ Yes✓ Yescall your APIs and run agent loops
Structured output (JSON schema)✓ Yes✓ Yesreturn JSON that validates against your schema
Reasoning / thinking mode✓ Yes✓ Yesspend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems
Image input✓ Yes✓ Yesread screenshots, charts and scanned pages
Audio input——take speech or audio directly
File / PDF input✓ Yes—accept documents without your own parsing step
Image output——generate images, not just text
Built-in web search✓ Yes—answer from live web results
Seed (reproducible sampling)—✓ Yesrepeat a generation for tests and evals
Log-probabilities—✓ Yesread token confidence for classification and scoring

From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.

Price history

DateModelInput / 1MOutput / 1M
2026-10-16Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)$0.05$0.18
2026-09-23Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)$0.06$0.20
2026-09-09Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)$0.07$0.25

Which should you choose?

Choose Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 if…

  • you need file / PDF input — to accept documents without your own parsing step; Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) does not advertise it
  • you need built-in web search — to answer from live web results; Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) does not advertise it

Choose Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) if…

  • cost matters at scale — it is 59% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($7.35 vs $17.50 a month for 50,000 support chats)
  • you need seed (reproducible sampling) — to repeat a generation for tests and evals; Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 does not advertise it
  • you need log-probabilities — to read token confidence for classification and scoring; Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 does not advertise it

Frequently asked questions

Is Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 better than Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)?

Neither wins outright: Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 is the pick when you need file / PDF input, Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) when cost matters at scale. In short: Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 when you need file / PDF input, you need built-in web search; Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) when cost matters at scale, you need seed (reproducible sampling), you need log-probabilities.

Which is cheaper, Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 or Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)?

Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) is cheaper: $0.08 vs $0.20 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 59% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $7.35 against $17.50.

How much do Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 and Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) cost per million tokens?

Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.50 per 1M output tokens; Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) costs $0.05 input and $0.18 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.

Which has the bigger context window, Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 or Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)?

Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch): 1.0M tokens, about 1,573 pages, against 1M (about 1,500 pages) for Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5.

Do Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 and Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) support function calling and JSON output?

Tool calling — Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5: yes, Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch): yes. JSON-schema structured output — Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5: yes, Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch): yes.

Can Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 or Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) read images?

Yes, both accept image input.

Is Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 or Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) free to use?

No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.

What is the maximum output length of Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 and Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch)?

Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 can write up to 128K tokens (about 96,000 words) per response; Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) up to 131K (about 98,300 words).

When were Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 and Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) released?

Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 was listed on 2026-10-07; Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) on 2026-08-26.

Has the price of Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 or Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) changed?

Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-10-08. Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch): input price cut 17% ($0.06 → $0.05/1M), output price cut 10% ($0.20 → $0.18/1M) on 2026-10-16 (3 price changes since 2026-08-29).

About the two models

Compare Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 with other models

Compare Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) with other models

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