gpt-5.6-terra vs zai-glm-4.6
gpt-5.6-terra and zai-glm-4.6 are priced within 15% of each other on input.
| gpt-5.6-terra | zai-glm-4.6 | |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M | $2.00 | $2.25 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.20 | — |
| Output / 1M | $12.00 | $2.75 |
| Context window | 1.1M | 128K |
| Max output | 128K | 128K |
| Provider | OpenAI | Cerebras |
| Vision | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Token count | exact | estimated |
Capability for the money
Independent measurement · Artificial Analysis · read 2026-08-11Not the same tier: gpt-5.6-terra leads zai-glm-4.6 by 34.5 points on following instructions (IFBench), for 1.9× the price.
Following instructions
extraction, classification, sticking to a format
IFBenchgpt-5.6-terra +34.5
Tool use
multi-step agent work against real tools
τ²-benchgpt-5.6-terra +9.4
Hard reasoning
graduate-level science and multi-step analysis
GPQA Diamondgpt-5.6-terra +29.3
Averaged over the benchmarks both models sat, zai-glm-4.6 returns 24.8 points of pass rate per dollar of blended price against 18.5 — the ratio that decides whether the dearer model earns its rate.
Each figure is a pass rate: the share of that test set the model answered correctly, measured by a third party rather than self-reported by the lab. Rows are different tests of different difficulty, so compare a model against the other model, not one row against the next. No published coding score for one of these models, so that lens is omitted. And a benchmark is not your workload — it narrows the shortlist, it does not pick for you.
Which to pick
- Cheaper input: gpt-5.6-terra
- Cheaper output: zai-glm-4.6
- Larger context: gpt-5.6-terra
- Better at following instructions: gpt-5.6-terra (71.2% vs 36.7% on IFBench)
- Better at tool use: gpt-5.6-terra (86.3% vs 76.9% on τ²-bench)
- Better at hard reasoning: gpt-5.6-terra (92.5% vs 63.2% on GPQA Diamond)
List price is not production cost. Output length, cache hit rate, retries and task quality move the real number more than the headline rate does — price your own prompt on the token ledger before deciding.
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