GLM-5.1 vs Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
GLM-5.1 (2026) and Llama 3.1 405B Instruct (2024) are frontier reasoning models from Zhipu AI and AI at Meta. GLM-5.1 ships a 200k-token context window, while Llama 3.1 405B Instruct ships a 128k-token context window. On pricing, GLM-5.1 costs $1.05/1M input tokens versus $2.40/1M 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-5.1 is ~129% cheaper at $1.05/1M; pay for Llama 3.1 405B Instruct only for provider fit.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | GLM-5.1 | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, tool-calling agents, and provider-routed production | provider-routed production |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | RAG, Long context, and Classification |
| Context window | 200k | 128k |
| Cheapest output | $3.50/1M tokens | $2.40/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 5 tracked | 11 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- GLM-5.1 has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
- GLM-5.1 uniquely exposes Reasoning, JSON / Tool use, and Code execution in local model data.
- Local decision data tags GLM-5.1 for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $2.40/1M tokens.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and route flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Llama 3.1 405B Instruct for RAG, Long context, and Classification.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
GLM-5.1
$1,715
Cheapest tracked route/tier: OpenRouter
Llama 3.1 405B Instruct
$2,520
Cheapest tracked route/tier: AWS Bedrock
Estimated monthly gap: $805. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on Fireworks AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Llama 3.1 405B Instruct is $1.10/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- Check replacement coverage for Reasoning, JSON / Tool use, and Code execution before moving production traffic.
- Provider overlap exists on Fireworks AI; start route-level A/B tests there.
- GLM-5.1 is $1.10/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- GLM-5.1 adds Reasoning, JSON / Tool use, and Code execution in local capability data.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2026-04-07 | 2024-07-23 |
| Context window | 200k | 128k |
| Parameters | 754B total, 40B active | 405B |
| Architecture | Mixture of Experts | Decoder Only |
| License | MITOSI-approved | Llama 3 Community |
| Openness | Open source | Open weights |
| Weights | Available | Available |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: permitted | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2025-11 | 2023-12 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | GLM-5.1 | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $1.05/1M tokens | $2.40/1M tokens |
| Output price | $3.50/1M tokens | $2.40/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | GLM-5.1 | Llama 3.1 405B Instruct |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| JSON / Tool use | Yes | No |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | Yes | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
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Last reviewed: 2026-07-11. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.