MiniMax M3 vs GLM 5
MiniMax M3 and GLM 5 match in llmrun Score, with values of 111.0 versus 111.4; neither fits 24 GB.
Model A · MiniMax
MiniMax M3427.0B · 19.8B active · 1M context · Other · Jun 2026
Model B · Z.ai
GLM 5753.9B · 42.4B active · 198K context · MIT · Feb 2026
Choose MiniMax M3 if you want…
Lighter on memory
256.7 vs 456.5 GB at Q4_K_M
Longer context window
1M vs 198K tokens
Also does vision
GLM 5 doesn't list it
Newer release
Jun 2026 vs Feb 2026
Choose GLM 5 if you want…
Also does chat
MiniMax M3 doesn't list it
More permissive license
MIT vs Other
On your hardware
Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.
8 GB
RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
MiniMax M3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 119.2 GB
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
MiniMax M3
IQ2_XXS · ~38 tok/s
119.2 GB · up to 64Kfits
GLM 5
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 209.1 GB
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
MiniMax M3
GLM 5
Coding
MiniMax M3
GLM 5
Agents
MiniMax M3
GLM 5
Math
MiniMax M3
GLM 5
no data
Science
MiniMax M3
GLM 5
no data
Reasoning
MiniMax M3
GLM 5
MiniMax M3 · #22 of 92 open models · #19 of 88 that fit ≤512 GB
GLM 5 · #21 of 92 open models · #18 of 88 that fit ≤512 GB
MiniMax M3
90.9%#6/97 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jun 2026
GLM 5
87.8%#15/97 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Feb 2026
MiniMax M3
1440.5#20/186 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
GLM 5
1457.5#12/186 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
MiniMax M3
71.1%#26/85 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jun 2026
GLM 5
80.0%#24/85 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Feb 2026
MiniMax M3
1481.7#16/50 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
GLM 5
1434.4#23/50 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
MiniMax M3
45.8%#12/25 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jun 2026
GLM 5
53.2%#6/25 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Feb 2026
MiniMax M3
14.0%#16/67 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jun 2026
GLM 5
10.0%#25/67 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Feb 2026
23 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
MiniMax M3
640.0#23/42 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jun 2026
GLM 5
765.6#18/42 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Feb 2026
MiniMax M3
61.4#1/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jun 2026
GLM 5
61.0#3/26 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Feb 2026
MiniMax M3
2157.8#10/17 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Jun 2026
GLM 5
4432.1#7/17 open
Lab-reportedEpoch AI · Feb 2026
Only MiniMax M3 (12)
- LiveBench Coding68.2
- LiveBench Reasoning74.5
- LiveBench Math77.0
- SciCode47.1%
- FrontierCode14.7%
- CritPt3.7%
- DTBench78.9%
- LMCA33.7%
- APEX-Agents37.7%
- Mystery Game Puzzles8.0%
- Surface Evolver Bench55.0%
- ProofBench18.0%
Only GLM 5 (8)
- SWE-bench Verified72.8%
- Terminal-Bench52.4%
- ARC-AGI-24.9%
- MMLU-Pro86.0%
- SWE-bench Multilingual69.7%
- ARC-AGI44.7%
- WeirdML48.2%
- CL-bench18.7%
VRAM by quantization
Memory to load the model and 2K context; below it, the total at 32K and 128K context. Lighter side in bold.
Q2_K
MiniMax M3
182 GB151.9 GB file
32K 185 GB · 128K 194 GB
GLM 5
325 GB276.0 GB file
32K 324 GB · 128K 332 GB
Q3_K_S
MiniMax M3
187 GB187.3 GB file
32K 190 GB · 128K 199 GB
GLM 5
334 GB326.3 GB file
32K 333 GB · 128K 342 GB
Q3_K_M
MiniMax M3
209 GB195.5 GB file
32K 212 GB · 128K 221 GB
GLM 5
372 GB360.3 GB file
32K 371 GB · 128K 380 GB
Q4_0
MiniMax M3
214 GB243.6 GB file
32K 217 GB · 128K 226 GB
GLM 5
381 GB427.1 GB file
32K 380 GB · 128K 389 GB
Q4_K_M
MiniMax M3
257 GB264.9 GB file
32K 260 GB · 128K 269 GB
GLM 5
457 GB455.9 GB file
32K 456 GB · 128K 464 GB
Q5_K_M
MiniMax M3
305 GB318.7 GB file
32K 308 GB · 128K 317 GB
GLM 5
541 GB535.2 GB file
32K 540 GB · 128K 549 GB
Q6_K
MiniMax M3
353 GB355.3 GB file
32K 356 GB · 128K 365 GB
GLM 5
626 GB619.4 GB file
32K 625 GB · 128K 634 GB
Q8_0
MiniMax M3
428 GB453.6 GB file
32K 430 GB · 128K 439 GB
GLM 5
758 GB801.3 GB file
32K 757 GB · 128K 766 GB
15 more quants
IQ2_XXS
MiniMax M3
118 GB134.9 GB file
32K 121 GB · 128K 130 GB
GLM 5
212 GB241.1 GB file
32K 211 GB · 128K 219 GB
IQ2_XS
MiniMax M3
129 GB129.5 GB file
32K 131 GB · 128K 140 GB
GLM 5
not listed
IQ2_S
MiniMax M3
134 GB132.1 GB file
32K 137 GB · 128K 146 GB
GLM 5
not listed
IQ2_M
MiniMax M3
145 GB135.1 GB file
32K 147 GB · 128K 157 GB
GLM 5
259 GB254.8 GB file
32K 258 GB · 128K 267 GB
IQ3_XXS
MiniMax M3
166 GB160.3 GB file
32K 169 GB · 128K 178 GB
GLM 5
296 GB304.5 GB file
32K 295 GB · 128K 304 GB
IQ3_XS
MiniMax M3
177 GB196.4 GB file
32K 179 GB · 128K 189 GB
GLM 5
not listed
IQ3_S
MiniMax M3
182 GB175.6 GB file
32K 185 GB · 128K 194 GB
GLM 5
not listed
IQ3_M
MiniMax M3
193 GB205.5 GB file
32K 195 GB · 128K 205 GB
GLM 5
not listed
Q3_K_L
MiniMax M3
219 GB205.0 GB file
32K 222 GB · 128K 231 GB
GLM 5
not listed
IQ4_XS
MiniMax M3
230 GB208.5 GB file
32K 233 GB · 128K 242 GB
GLM 5
409 GB402.9 GB file
32K 408 GB · 128K 417 GB
IQ4_NL
MiniMax M3
241 GB212.7 GB file
32K 244 GB · 128K 253 GB
GLM 5
428 GB425.9 GB file
32K 427 GB · 128K 436 GB
Q4_1
MiniMax M3
241 GB268.9 GB file
32K 244 GB · 128K 253 GB
GLM 5
428 GB472.7 GB file
32K 427 GB · 128K 436 GB
Q4_K_S
MiniMax M3
241 GB248.6 GB file
32K 244 GB · 128K 253 GB
GLM 5
428 GB428.4 GB file
32K 427 GB · 128K 436 GB
Q5_K_S
MiniMax M3
294 GB299.7 GB file
32K 297 GB · 128K 306 GB
GLM 5
523 GB519.7 GB file
32K 522 GB · 128K 530 GB
BF16
MiniMax M3
855 GB852.9 GB file
32K 857 GB · 128K 866 GB
GLM 5
1512 GB1508.0 GB file
32K 1511 GB · 128K 1520 GB
MiniMax M3
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/MiniMax-M3-GGUF:Q4_K_MGLM 5
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/GLM-5-GGUF:Q4_K_M| Spec | MiniMax M3 | GLM 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | MiniMax | Z.ai |
| Parameters | 427.0B | 753.9B |
| Active parameters | 20B per token | 42B per token |
| Architecture | MiniMaxM3SparseForConditionalGeneration | GlmMoeDsaForCausalLM |
| Context | 1M tokens | 198K tokens |
| Modalities | Vision, Function-calling | Chat, Function-calling |
| License | Other | MIT |
| Released | Jun 2026 | Feb 2026 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, MiniMax M3 or GLM 5?
MiniMax M3 and GLM 5 match in llmrun Score, with values of 111.0 versus 111.4; neither fits 24 GB. Choose MiniMax M3 for lighter on memory and longer context window; choose GLM 5 for also does chat and more permissive license.
Which needs less VRAM, MiniMax M3 or GLM 5?
At Q4_K_M, MiniMax M3 requires 256.7 GB while GLM 5 needs 456.5 GB, making MiniMax M3 the easier model to run on your local setup.
Can I run MiniMax M3 or GLM 5 on a 16 GB GPU?
MiniMax M3 does not fit (smallest quant needs 119.2 GB); GLM 5 does not fit (smallest quant needs 209.1 GB).
Which has a longer context window, MiniMax M3 or GLM 5?
MiniMax M3 supports 1,048,576 tokens and GLM 5 supports 202,752 tokens.