Claude Opus 4.8 vs GLM-5.2 — Price, Context, and Capability Compared
Verdict
Claude Opus 4.8 costs 4.7× more per blended million tokens than GLM-5.2. GLM-5.2 has the larger context window (1,000,000 tokens). Default to GLM-5.2 unless you specifically need Claude Opus 4.8's edge.
Spec comparison
| Claude Opus 4.8 | GLM-5.2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (input) | $5.00/M | $1.40/M ✓ |
| Price (output) | $25.00/M | $4.40/M ✓ |
| Blended price | $10.00/M | $2.15/M ✓ |
| Context window | 500,000 tokens | 1,000,000 tokens ✓ |
| Max output | 64,000 tokens | 64,000 tokens |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Reasoning mode | Yes | Yes |
| Released | 2026-04 | 2026-05 |
| Speed | 58 t/s | Not measured |
Cost at scale (3:1 blended)
| Tokens / month | Claude Opus 4.8 | GLM-5.2 | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 | $10.00 | $2.15 | $7.85 (4.7×) |
| 10,000,000 | $100.00 | $21.50 | $78.50 (4.7×) |
| 100,000,000 | $1000.00 | $215.00 | $785.00 (4.7×) |
Choose Claude Opus 4.8 if…
- ✓Elite coding and multi-step reasoning
- ✓Strong instruction following on ambiguous prompts
- ✓Extended-thinking mode
- ✓Complex, multi-step tasks where Fable 5’s premium isn’t justified.
Choose GLM-5.2 if…
- ✓Open-weights coding-first flagship
- ✓1M-token context window
- ✓Beats larger frontier models on long-horizon coding
- ✓Long-horizon coding on open weights at a fraction of frontier pricing.
Run this exact matchup right now
Send the same prompt to Claude Opus 4.8 and GLM-5.2 side by side and see the outputs yourself.
Try Claude Opus 4.8 vs GLM-5.2 FreeFAQ
Is Claude Opus 4.8 cheaper than GLM-5.2?
GLM-5.2 is cheaper, at $2.15 per million blended tokens vs $10.00 for Claude Opus 4.8.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Opus 4.8 or GLM-5.2?
GLM-5.2 has the larger context window: 1,000,000 tokens vs 500,000.
Can Claude Opus 4.8 replace GLM-5.2 for coding?
Both are viable for coding. Elite coding and multi-step reasoning (Claude Opus 4.8) vs Open-weights coding-first flagship (GLM-5.2) — pick based on which strength matters more for your workload.
Related
Claude Opus 4.8 pricingGLM-5.2 pricingvs Grok 4.3vs Gemini 3.1 Provs Claude Opus 4vs Claude Fable 5Premium model tests
Pricing verified 2026-06-07. Specs verified 2026-08-08.
