Claude Sonnet 4.5 vs GLM-5
Claude Sonnet 4.5 (2025) and GLM-5 (2026) are frontier-tier reasoning models from Anthropic and Zhipu AI. Claude Sonnet 4.5 ships a 200k-token context window, while GLM-5 ships a 200k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, Claude Sonnet 4.5 and GLM-5 are tied at 86. 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 safer overall; choose Claude Sonnet 4.5 when vision-heavy evaluation matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GLM-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents | reasoning-heavy apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | 200k | 200k |
| Cheapest output | $15/1M tokens | $2.08/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 8 tracked | 7 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 3 shared | SWE-bench Verified leader |
Decision tradeoffs
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 uniquely exposes Vision and Multimodal in local model data.
- Local decision data tags Claude Sonnet 4.5 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- GLM-5 holds a shared-benchmark lead on SWE-bench Verified, ahead by 0.6 points.
- GLM-5 has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $2.08/1M tokens.
- 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.
Claude Sonnet 4.5
$6,150
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Microsoft Foundry
GLM-5
$1,000
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Estimated monthly gap: $5,150. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter, GCP Vertex AI, and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
- GLM-5 is $12.92/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Vision and Multimodal before moving production traffic.
- Provider overlap exists on GCP Vertex AI, OpenRouter, and Vercel AI Gateway; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 is $12.92/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Claude Sonnet 4.5 adds Vision and Multimodal in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2025-09-29 | 2026-02-11 |
| Context window | 200k | 200k |
| Parameters | — | 744B total, 40B active |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Mixture of Experts |
| License | Proprietary | MITOSI-approved |
| Openness | Proprietary | Open source |
| Weights | Not released | Available |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-12 | 2025-11 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GLM-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Input price |
| $0.60/1M tokens |
| Output price |
| $2.08/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GLM-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Multimodal | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude Sonnet 4.5 | GLM-5 |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU PRO | 86.0 | 86.0 |
| SWE-bench Verified | 77.2 | 77.8 |
| Google-Proof Q&A | 83.4 | 86.0 |
Continue comparing
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-26. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.