GLM 5.1 vs GPT-5.4 Mini

GLM 5.1 and GPT-5.4 Mini pull in opposite directions: GPT-5.4 Mini is cheaper to send tokens to, $0.75 per 1M against $1.40, while GLM 5.1 is cheaper to get tokens back from, $4.40 per 1M against $4.50. Which one you want depends on how long the answers are. Caching is what separates them: over a thousand agent loops, where most of each prompt comes from cache, it is $138.00 on GPT-5.4 Mini against $273.60 on GLM 5.1.

What the extra 27% buys is 2 points of overall intelligence (Intelligence Index): 26.1 (Reasoning) against 24.1 (xhigh). GPT-5.4 Mini is the one to pick unless you need GLM 5.1's lead on overall intelligence.

Standard pay-as-you-go prices, as of 7 Apr 2026. Last updated 27 Sep 2026.

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Cheaper overall

GPT-5.4 Mini

22% lower blended rate

Bigger context window

GPT-5.4 Mini

400,000 vs 200,000 tokens

Cheaper cached input

GPT-5.4 Mini

$0.075 vs $0.26, 71% less

Where each one wins

GLM 5.1

  • Cheaper output tokens $4.40 vs $4.50, 2% less
  • Higher overall intelligence (Intelligence Index) 26.1 vs 24.1
  • Higher multi-step tool use (Agentic Index) 23.9 vs 17.9
  • Higher expert-exam performance (Humanity's Last Exam) 30.1 vs 28.1
  • Ahead on 4 more benchmark figures

GPT-5.4 Mini

  • Cheaper input tokens $0.75 vs $1.40, 46% less
  • Cheaper cached input $0.075 vs $0.26, 71% less
  • Cheaper on all four workloads
  • Larger context window 400,000 tokens
  • Higher coding ability (Coding Index) 56.1 vs 55.8
  • Higher graduate-level science (GPQA Diamond) 87.5 vs 86.8
  • Higher long-context reasoning (AA-LCR) 77 vs 73.7
  • Ahead on 4 more benchmark figures
  • Offers Batch and Flex pricing not listed for GLM 5.1

What four workloads cost

One run, and the same run a thousand times.

GPT-5.4 Mini is cheaper on all four workloads, by much the same margin each time โ€” about 1.6 times, from $0.0030 against $0.0036 on a chat turn to $0.1380 against $0.2736 on a long document.

Workload GLM 5.1 GPT-5.4 Mini ร—1,000 Difference
Chat turn 1,000 in / 500 out $0.0036 $0.0030 $3.60 / $3.00 GPT-5.4 Mini is 17% cheaper
RAG answer 10,000 in / 800 out $0.0175 $0.0111 $17.52 / $11.10 GPT-5.4 Mini is 37% cheaper
Agent loop 32,000 in / 700 out ร— 20 calls $0.2736 $0.1380 $273.60 / $138.00 GPT-5.4 Mini is 50% cheaper
Long document 400,000 in / 3,000 out GLM 5.1's context window holds 200,000 tokens, so a 400,000-token prompt does not fit.

Price your own token counts for these two โ†’

Price per 1M tokens

Neither model changes its rate with prompt length, so these rates apply to every request.

Context band Price GLM 5.1 GPT-5.4 Mini Difference
Any prompt length Input $1.40 $0.75 GPT-5.4 Mini is 46% cheaper
Any prompt length Cached input $0.26 $0.075 GPT-5.4 Mini is 71% cheaper
Any prompt length Output $4.40 $4.50 GLM 5.1 is 2% cheaper

Blended: GLM 5.1 $2.15, GPT-5.4 Mini $1.6875 per 1M โ€” one rate at 3:1 input to output, for comparing two models at a glance.

GLM 5.1 priced by Z.ai, GPT-5.4 Mini by OpenAI. Standard tier, pay-as-you-go.

Other pricing tiers

Only GPT-5.4 Mini lists Batch and Flex, at up to 50% off its own standard rate; GLM 5.1 offers none of them.

Every tier either model sells is here, so this is the whole price sheet. A saving is measured against that model's own standard rate โ€” how we read tiers.

Tier GLM 5.1 GPT-5.4 Mini Cheaper
Batch only on GPT-5.4 Mini Not offered $0.375 in / $2.25 out 50% off Standard —
Flex only on GPT-5.4 Mini Not offered $0.375 in / $2.25 out 50% off Standard —

Benchmarks

They share 14 figures: GLM 5.1 leads on 7, GPT-5.4 Mini on 7. The widest gap is 59.9 points, on answer reliability (Omniscience Non-Hallucination).

Overall intelligence

Intelligence Index โ€” Overall intelligence across reasoning, knowledge & math evals

GLM 5.1 26.1
GPT-5.4 Mini 24.1

GLM 5.1 ahead by 2

Coding ability

Coding Index โ€” Coding ability across software-engineering evals

GLM 5.1 55.8
GPT-5.4 Mini 56.1

GPT-5.4 Mini ahead by 0.3

Multi-step tool use

Agentic Index โ€” Tool use & multi-step agent task performance

GLM 5.1 23.9
GPT-5.4 Mini 17.9

GLM 5.1 ahead by 6

Graduate-level science

GPQA Diamond โ€” Graduate-level questions in biology, chemistry & physics

GLM 5.1 86.8
GPT-5.4 Mini 87.5

GPT-5.4 Mini ahead by 0.7

Expert-exam performance

Humanity's Last Exam โ€” Expert-level questions across many academic domains

GLM 5.1 30.1
GPT-5.4 Mini 28.1

GLM 5.1 ahead by 2

Instruction following

IFBench โ€” Precise following of detailed instructions

GLM 5.1 76.3
GPT-5.4 Mini 73.3

GLM 5.1 ahead by 3

Support-agent performance

ฯ„ยฒ-Bench Telecom โ€” Tool-using agent tasks in a telecom support setting

GLM 5.1 97.7
GPT-5.4 Mini 83.3

GLM 5.1 ahead by 14.4

Long-context reasoning

AA-LCR โ€” Long-context reasoning across large inputs

GLM 5.1 73.7
GPT-5.4 Mini 77

GPT-5.4 Mini ahead by 3.3

Scientific coding

SciCode โ€” Research-level scientific coding tasks

GLM 5.1 44.8
GPT-5.4 Mini 52.1

GPT-5.4 Mini ahead by 7.3

Command-line work

Terminal-Bench Hard โ€” Complex command-line and terminal workflows

GLM 5.1 43.2
GPT-5.4 Mini 52.3

GPT-5.4 Mini ahead by 9.1

Physics research reasoning

CritPt โ€” Unpublished physics research reasoning problems

GLM 5.1 4.6
GPT-5.4 Mini 10

GPT-5.4 Mini ahead by 5.4

Real-world task performance

GDPval โ€” Economically valuable, real-world knowledge work

GLM 5.1 30.2
GPT-5.4 Mini 25

GLM 5.1 ahead by 5.2

Factual accuracy

Omniscience Accuracy โ€” Breadth of factual knowledge across domains

GLM 5.1 25.2
GPT-5.4 Mini 37.5

GPT-5.4 Mini ahead by 12.3

Answer reliability

Omniscience Non-Hallucination โ€” How reliably the model avoids fabricated answers

GLM 5.1 70.1
GPT-5.4 Mini 10.2

GLM 5.1 ahead by 59.9

Each figure is that model's best published run, with the effort level named beside it โ€” where these scores come from.

Specifications

GPT-5.4 Mini holds 200,000 more input tokens in one request. GPT-5.4 Mini also takes file and image.

Specification GLM 5.1 GPT-5.4 Mini
Context window 200,000 tokens 400,000 tokens
Max output 128,000 tokens 128,000 tokens
Takes in Text Text, image, file
Puts out Text Text
Knowledge cutoff โ€” 31 Aug 2025
Released 7 Apr 2026 17 Mar 2026
Status Active Active
Sold by Z.ai OpenAI, Perplexity

FAQs

Is GLM 5.1 cheaper than GPT-5.4 Mini?
No โ€” the other way round. A 1,000-token prompt with a 500-token reply costs $0.0036 on GLM 5.1 and $0.0030 on GPT-5.4 Mini, and the same model is cheaper on every workload on this page.
How much do GLM 5.1 and GPT-5.4 Mini cost per 1M tokens?
GLM 5.1 costs $1.40 for input and $4.40 for output. GPT-5.4 Mini costs $0.75 and $4.50. Standard pay-as-you-go rates, as of 7 Apr 2026.
Which is better, GLM 5.1 or GPT-5.4 Mini?
On published benchmarks, GLM 5.1. It leads on 7 of the 14 figures both models report, including overall intelligence (Intelligence Index), where it scores 26.1 against 24.1.
Does GLM 5.1 or GPT-5.4 Mini offer batch pricing?
GPT-5.4 Mini only. Its batch input costs $0.375, 50% off its standard rate, and GLM 5.1 lists no batch tier at all.
Does GLM 5.1 or GPT-5.4 Mini have a bigger context window?
GPT-5.4 Mini, at 400,000 tokens against 200,000. That is 200,000 more input tokens in a single request.

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