GLM-4.5 vs Claude 4 Opus: Cost-Effective Flexibility or Reliable Safety

Novita AI not only provides stable API services but also offers extremely cost-effective pricing. For example, GLM-4.5 costs $0.6 per 1M input tokens and $2.2 per 1M output tokens.

Basic Introduction of Model

GLM-4.5

GLM-4.5 is a foundation model designed for intelligent agents with 355 billion total parameters and 32 billion active parameters. The model unifies reasoning, coding, and intelligent agent capabilities to meet the complex demands of intelligent agent applications. GLM-4.5 is a hybrid reasoning model that provides two modes: thinking mode for complex reasoning and tool usage, and non-thinking mode for immediate responses.

Key Features and Architecture

• Parameters: 355 billion total parameters with 32 billion active parameters.
• Hybrid Reasoning: Two operational modes – thinking mode for complex reasoning and tool usage, and non-thinking mode for immediate responses.
• Model Versions: Available in base models, hybrid reasoning models, and FP8 versions.
• Context Window: 128K tokens.
• Licensing: MIT open-source license for commercial use and secondary development.
• Capabilities: Unified reasoning, coding, and intelligent agent functionalities for complex applications.

Claude 4 Opus:

Claude 4 Opus is Anthropic’s flagship large language model, designed for the most demanding applications requiring maximum intelligence and sophisticated reasoning capabilities. As the premium tier in the Claude product line, Opus 4 delivers exceptional performance in complex analysis, creative tasks, and advanced problem-solving.

Features and Architecture

• Architecture: Dense Transformer model (non-MoE) using large-scale dense parameterization.
• Training Focus: Emphasizes safety, alignment, and steerability alongside cutting-edge natural language understanding and generation capabilities.
• Capabilities: Excels in complex conversational AI, multi-step reasoning, in-depth analysis, advanced coding assistance, creative writing, and academic research.
• Languages: Primarily optimized for English, with strong multilingual capabilities.
• Context Length: 200k tokens.

Benchmark Comparison of GLM-4.5 and Claude 4 Opus

2. Context Window:

GLM-4.5: 128k Tokens

Claude 4 Opus: 200k Tokens

3. API Pricing:

GLM-4.5: $0.6 / $2.2 in/out per 1M Tokens

Claude 4 Opus: $15 / $75 in/out per 1M Tokens

Applied Skills Test of GLM-4.5 and Claude 4 Opus

1.  Creative Writing Challenge: GLM-4.5 vs Claude 4 Opus

Prompt

You wake up one morning to find that colors have vanished from the world—everything is now in black, white, and shades of gray. As you explore your city, you discover a single object that still glows with vibrant color. Tell a story about your search for the meaning of this phenomenon, how the world reacts, and what you decide to do with the colorful object. Focus on atmosphere, emotion, and the choices your character faces. Limit your story to 200–250 words.

Scoring Criteria

Criterion	Description
Creativity & Originality	Is the story unique and imaginative? Does it avoid clichés and bring something fresh?
Atmosphere & Imagery	Does the writing create a vivid atmosphere and strong imagery? Does it immerse the reader?
Coherence & Structure	Is the story well-structured and logical? Is it easy to follow and understand?
Characterization & Emotion	Are the characters well-developed? Does the story evoke emotion or empathy from the reader?
Language & Style	Is the language expressive and impactful? Is the style appropriate for the theme?

Each category is worth 1–5 points, for a total of 25 points.

GLM-4.5

Claude 4 Opus

Scoring:

Model	Creativity & Originality	Atmosphere & Imagery	Coherence & Structure	Characterization & Emotion	Language & Style	Total (25)
GLM-4.5	4; Classic concept, thoughtful dilemma	4; Strong contrast and mood	5; Clear structure, logical flow	3; Some emotional distance, less depth	4; Concise, effective description	20
Claude 4 Opus	5; Inventive, layered, symbolic	5; Vivid, immersive, dramatic	5; Excellent pacing, well-developed	5; Rich emotion, empathetic characters	5; Poetic, evocative, literary style	25

Claude 4 Opus stands out for its creativity, emotional depth, and literary style.

GLM-4.5 is well-structured and atmospheric, but less emotionally engaging and nuanced.

2.  Natural language understanding Challenge: GLM-4.5 vs Claude 4 Opus

Passage:

Michael promised David to deliver the package before noon. However, when he arrived at David’s office, the receptionist told him that he had already left for a meeting. Michael left the package with her and sent David a message.

Question:
Who had already left for a meeting, Michael or David?
Explain your reasoning.

GLM-4.5

Claude 4 Opus

Scoring:

Here’s a scoring table comparing GLM-4.5 and Claude Opus responses based on the evaluation criteria:

Model	Creativity & Originality (5)	Atmosphere & Imagery (5)	Coherence & Structure (5)	Characterization & Emotion (5)	Language & Style (5)	Total (25)
GLM-4.5	3/5	2/5	4/5	2/5	3/5	14/25
Claude Opus	4/5	3/5	5/5	3/5	4/5	19/25

Strengths & Weaknesses of GLM-4.5 and Claude 4 Opus

GLM-4.5

Strengths

• Flexible reasoning: Willingly proposes creative, alternative, or lateral solutions when facing tough or ambiguous problems.
• Constraint juggling: Handles multiple, sometimes conflicting, rules and exceptions with agility.
• Analytical depth: Often explores multiple solution paths, considers edge cases, and is willing to self-correct.
• Adaptiveness: Readily adjusts its approach in open-ended or non-standard problem settings.
• Highly cost-effective : Extremely competitive pricing (available at Novita AI for $0.6 / $2.2 in/out per 1M tokens), making it ideal for large-scale or cost-sensitive deployments.

Weaknesses

• Mechanical expression: Writing outputs can be formulaic, methodical, and lack natural fluency or vividness.
• Transparency: Sometimes skips steps in its reasoning, making the logic less explicit.
• “Over-solving”: Can over-interpret or make speculative links that weren’t intended by the task.
• Safety controls: Guardrails are improving but may not match the strictness of Claude in all edge cases.

Claude 4 Opus

Strengths

• Long-context handling: Excels at tracking details and maintaining consistency over very long documents or conversations.
• Logical reasoning: Performs exceptionally well on tasks requiring strict rule-following, constraint satisfaction, and stepwise deduction.
• Self-reflection: Frequently explains its decision-making and highlights any ambiguities or uncertainties.
• Safety & reliability: Rarely outputs inappropriate or risky content; ideal for high-stakes or sensitive domains.
• Consistency: Maintains a stable and reliable conversational flow, even over extended sessions.

Weaknesses

• Rigidity with ambiguity: May get stuck or overly cautious when dealing with unclear, contradictory, or incomplete information.
• Literalism: Sometimes overly literal, missing nuanced or indirect connections unless prompted.

How to Access GLM-4.5 on Novita AI

Step 1: Log In and Access the Model Library

Log in to your account and click on the Model Library button.

Step 2: Choose Your Model

Browse through the available options and select the model that suits your needs.

Step 3: Start Your Free Trial

Begin your free trial to explore the capabilities of the selected model.

Step 4: Get Your API Key

To authenticate with the API, we will provide you with a new API key. Entering the “Settings“ page, you can copy the API key as indicated in the image.

Step 5: Install the API

Install API using the package manager specific to your programming language.

After installation, import the necessary libraries into your development environment. Initialize the API with your API key to start interacting with Novita AI LLM. This is an example of using chat completions API for python users.

from openai import OpenAI
  
client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.novita.ai/v3/openai",
    api_key="",
)

model = "zai-org/glm-4.5"
stream = True # or False
max_tokens = 65536
system_content = ""Be a helpful assistant""
temperature = 1
top_p = 1
min_p = 0
top_k = 50
presence_penalty = 0
frequency_penalty = 0
repetition_penalty = 1
response_format = { "type": "text" }

chat_completion_res = client.chat.completions.create(
    model=model,
    messages=[
        {
            "role": "system",
            "content": system_content,
        },
        {
            "role": "user",
            "content": "Hi there!",
        }
    ],
    stream=stream,
    max_tokens=max_tokens,
    temperature=temperature,
    top_p=top_p,
    presence_penalty=presence_penalty,
    frequency_penalty=frequency_penalty,
    response_format=response_format,
    extra_body={
      "top_k": top_k,
      "repetition_penalty": repetition_penalty,
      "min_p": min_p
    }
  )

if stream:
    for chunk in chat_completion_res:
        print(chunk.choices[0].delta.content or "", end="")
else:
    print(chat_completion_res.choices[0].message.content)
  
  

Both models embody contrasting design philosophies and possess different capability strengths: GLM-4.5 excels in flexible problem-solving and adaptive reasoning, while Claude 4 Opus stands out for its rigorous logical consistency and robust safety mechanisms.

GLM-4.5 is a 355 billion parameter foundation model specifically designed for intelligent agent applications, featuring a unique hybrid reasoning architecture with dual operational modes. With 32 billion active parameters and a 128K token context window, the model unifies reasoning, coding, and agent capabilities under an MIT open-source license. Its distinctive thinking/non-thinking mode architecture enables both complex deliberative reasoning and rapid response generation, positioning it as a specialized solution for enterprise agent deployment scenarios.

Frequently Asked Questions

About Novita AI
Novita AI is an AI cloud platform that offers developers an easy way to deploy AI models using our simple API, while also providing the affordable and reliable GPU cloud for building and scaling.