LLM Reference

Claude Opus 4.5 vs GLM-5

Claude Opus 4.5 (2025) and GLM-5 (2026) are frontier-tier reasoning models from Anthropic and Zhipu AI. Claude Opus 4.5 ships a 200k-token context window, while GLM-5 ships a 200k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Claude Opus 4.5 leads by 2.9 pts. On pricing, GLM-5 costs $0.60/1M input tokens versus $5/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.

GLM-5 is ~733% cheaper at $0.60/1M; pay for Claude Opus 4.5 only for coding workflow support.

Decision scorecard

Local evidence first
SignalClaude Opus 4.5GLM-5
Best forreasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agentsreasoning-heavy apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production
Decision fitCoding, RAG, and AgentsCoding, RAG, and Agents
Context window200k200k
Cheapest output$25/1M tokens$2.08/1M tokens
Provider routes6 tracked7 tracked
Shared benchmarksMMLU PRO leader4 shared

Decision tradeoffs

Choose Claude Opus 4.5 when...
  • Claude Opus 4.5 holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 2.9 points.
  • Claude Opus 4.5 uniquely exposes Vision, Multimodal, and Code execution in local model data.
  • Local decision data tags Claude Opus 4.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Choose GLM-5 when...
  • GLM-5 holds a shared-benchmark lead on SWE-bench Pro, ahead by 13.3 points.
  • GLM-5 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $2.08/1M tokens.
  • GLM-5 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
  • Local decision data tags GLM-5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.

Monthly cost at traffic

Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.

Lower estimate GLM-5

Claude Opus 4.5

$10,250

Cheapest tracked route/tier: Microsoft Foundry

GLM-5

$1,000

Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter

Estimated monthly gap: $9,250. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.

Switch friction

Claude Opus 4.5 -> GLM-5
  • Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter, GCP Vertex AI, and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • GLM-5 is $22.92/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
  • Check replacement coverage for Vision, Multimodal, and Code execution before moving production traffic.
GLM-5 -> Claude Opus 4.5
  • Provider overlap exists on GCP Vertex AI, OpenRouter, and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
  • Claude Opus 4.5 is $22.92/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
  • Claude Opus 4.5 adds Vision, Multimodal, and Code execution in local capability data.

Specs

Specification
Released2025-11-012026-02-11
Context window200k200k
Parameters—744B total, 40B active
ArchitectureDecoder OnlyMixture of Experts
LicenseProprietaryMITOSI-approved
OpennessProprietaryOpen source
WeightsNot releasedAvailable
CodeUnknownUnknown
Commercial useCommercial use: conditionalCommercial use: permitted
Knowledge cutoff2025-122025-11

Pricing and availability

Pricing attributeClaude Opus 4.5GLM-5
Input price$5/1M tokens$0.60/1M tokens
Output price$25/1M tokens$2.08/1M tokens
Providers
Microsoft FoundryAnthropicGCP Vertex AIAWS BedrockOpenRouterVercel AI Gateway
Fireworks AIOpenRouterTogether AIGCP Vertex AINVIDIA NIMVercel AI Gateway

Capabilities

CapabilityClaude Opus 4.5GLM-5
VisionYesNo
MultimodalYesNo
ReasoningYesYes
JSON / Tool useYesYes
Structured outputsYesYes
Code executionYesNo
IDE integrationNoNo
Computer useNoNo
Parallel agentsNoNo

Benchmarks

BenchmarkClaude Opus 4.5GLM-5
MMLU PRO88.986.0
SWE-bench Verified80.977.8
SWE-bench Pro41.855.1
Google-Proof Q&A87.086.0

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Last reviewed: 2026-07-26. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.