Claude Sonnet 5 vs GLM-5.2 — Price, Context, and Capability Compared
Claude Sonnet 5 vs GLM-5.2: which should I use?
Claude Sonnet 5 costs 2.8× 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 Sonnet 5's edge.
Spec comparison
| Claude Sonnet 5 | GLM-5.2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price (input) | $3.00/M | $1.40/M ✓ |
| Price (output) | $15.00/M | $4.40/M ✓ |
| Blended price | $6.00/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 | 2026-08 | 2026-05 |
| Speed | Not measured | Not measured |
Cost at scale (3:1 blended)
| Tokens / month | Claude Sonnet 5 | GLM-5.2 | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000,000 | $6.00 | $2.15 | $3.85 (2.8×) |
| 10,000,000 | $60.00 | $21.50 | $38.50 (2.8×) |
| 100,000,000 | $600.00 | $215.00 | $385.00 (2.8×) |
Choose Claude Sonnet 5 if…
- ✓Frontier intelligence at Sonnet economics
- ✓Fast interactive coding performance
- ✓Reliable structured output and extended thinking
- ✓Production workloads that need near-Opus quality with better speed and cost.
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 Sonnet 5 and GLM-5.2 side by side and see the outputs yourself.
Try Claude Sonnet 5 vs GLM-5.2 FreeFAQ
Is Claude Sonnet 5 cheaper than GLM-5.2?
GLM-5.2 is cheaper, at $2.15 per million blended tokens vs $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 5.
Which has the bigger context window, Claude Sonnet 5 or GLM-5.2?
GLM-5.2 has the larger context window: 1,000,000 tokens vs 500,000.
Can Claude Sonnet 5 replace GLM-5.2 for coding?
Both are viable for coding. Frontier intelligence at Sonnet economics (Claude Sonnet 5) vs Open-weights coding-first flagship (GLM-5.2) — pick based on which strength matters more for your workload.
Neither of these? See Claude Sonnet 5 alternatives or GLM-5.2 alternatives.
Related
Pricing verified 2026-06-19. Specs verified 2026-08-08.