Kimi K2 Instruct vs GLM 5.3
GLM 5.3 leads llmrun Score 130.1 to 100.1; neither fits 24 GB.
Model A · Moonshot AI
Kimi K2 Instruct1026.4B · 32.9B active · 128K context · Other · Jul 2025
Model B · Z.ai
GLM 5.3753.3B · 41.8B active · 1M context · Other · Aug 2026
Choose GLM 5.3 if you want…
Higher llmrun Score
130.1 vs 100.1
Stronger at reasoning
130.1 vs 92.8
Stronger at agents
133.5 vs 101.6
Lighter on memory
456.2 vs 619.7 GB at Q4_K_M
Longer context window
1M vs 128K tokens
Newer release
Aug 2026 vs Jul 2025
Kimi K2 Instruct: no clear edge over GLM 5.3 in the data we have.
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
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
12 GB
RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
16 GB
RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
24 GBreference
RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
32 GB
RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
48 GB
RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
Mac 32 GB
Mac Mini M4 · Macs
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
Mac 64 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
Mac 128 GB
Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs
Kimi K2 Instruct
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 283.7 GB
GLM 5.3
Doesn't fit
smallest quant needs 256 GB
Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).
Overall
Kimi K2 Instruct
GLM 5.3
Coding
Kimi K2 Instruct
GLM 5.3
Agents
Kimi K2 Instruct
GLM 5.3
Math
Kimi K2 Instruct
no data
GLM 5.3
Science
Kimi K2 Instruct
no data
GLM 5.3
Reasoning
Kimi K2 Instruct
GLM 5.3
Kimi K2 Instruct · #57 of 106 open models · #53 of 102 that fit ≤640 GB
GLM 5.3 · #6 of 106 open models · #4 of 102 that fit ≤512 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
39.4%#26/47 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Jul 2025
GLM 5.3
75.4%#2/47 open
IndependentEpoch AI · Aug 2026
40 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)
Kimi K2 Instruct
1417.8#36/188 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
GLM 5.3
1480.6#2/188 open
ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026
Only Kimi K2 Instruct (9)
- SWE-bench Verified65.4%
- Terminal-Bench27.8%
- MMLU-Pro81.0%
- Aider Polyglot59.1%
- SWE-bench Bash Only43.8%
- SimpleBench26.3%
- Fiction.LiveBench61.1%
- ForecastBench62.2
- GSO-Bench4.9%
Only GLM 5.3 (30)
- GPQA Diamond90.9%
- LiveBench Coding79.0
- LiveBench Reasoning85.8
- AIME 2024/202591.1%
- FrontierMath68.8%
- LMArena WebDev1622.8
- LiveBench Math87.9
- SciCode59.0%
- SimpleQA41.0%
- FrontierMath Tier 429.3%
- DeepSWE69.0%
- FrontierCode40.1%
- APEX-Agents56.6%
- Chess Puzzles37.0%
- CritPt19.1%
- DTBench87.7%
- LiveBench 2026 Reasoning85.8
- LMCA55.5%
- Mystery Game Puzzles33.0%
- Vending-Bench 28163.6
- LiveBench 2026 Browser0.0
- LiveBench 2026 Data Analysis70.2
- ALE-Bench1317.4
- CursorBench42.6%
- FrontierSWE30.2%
- LiveBench 2026 Coding82.8
- LiveBench 2026 Long-Horizon35.9
- LiveBench 2026 Design77.3
- ProofBench49.0%
- LiveBench 2026 Research73.2
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
Kimi K2 Instruct
440 GB373.2 GB file
32K 439 GB · 128K 446 GB
GLM 5.3
324 GB~320.2 GB file
32K 323 GB · 128K 332 GB
Q3_K_S
Kimi K2 Instruct
453 GB442.4 GB file
32K 452 GB · 128K 459 GB
GLM 5.3
not listed
Q3_K_M
Kimi K2 Instruct
504 GB489.4 GB file
32K 503 GB · 128K 510 GB
GLM 5.3
371 GB~367.3 GB file
32K 370 GB · 128K 379 GB
Q4_0
Kimi K2 Instruct
517 GB580.6 GB file
32K 516 GB · 128K 523 GB
GLM 5.3
not listed
Q4_K_M
Kimi K2 Instruct
620 GB620.8 GB file
32K 618 GB · 128K 625 GB
GLM 5.3
456 GB~452.0 GB file
32K 455 GB · 128K 464 GB
Q5_K_M
Kimi K2 Instruct
735 GB728.3 GB file
32K 734 GB · 128K 741 GB
GLM 5.3
541 GB~536.8 GB file
32K 540 GB · 128K 549 GB
Q6_K
Kimi K2 Instruct
851 GB842.6 GB file
32K 849 GB · 128K 856 GB
GLM 5.3
626 GB~621.5 GB file
32K 625 GB · 128K 634 GB
Q8_0
Kimi K2 Instruct
1030 GB1091.1 GB file
32K 1029 GB · 128K 1036 GB
GLM 5.3
758 GB801.4 GB file
32K 757 GB · 128K 765 GB
10 more quants
IQ2_XXS
Kimi K2 Instruct
286 GB328.8 GB file
32K 285 GB · 128K 292 GB
GLM 5.3
not listed
IQ2_M
Kimi K2 Instruct
350 GB347.1 GB file
32K 349 GB · 128K 356 GB
GLM 5.3
258 GB238.6 GB file
32K 257 GB · 128K 266 GB
IQ3_XXS
Kimi K2 Instruct
402 GB416.6 GB file
32K 400 GB · 128K 407 GB
GLM 5.3
296 GB281.7 GB file
32K 295 GB · 128K 304 GB
Q3_K_L
Kimi K2 Instruct
530 GB530.5 GB file
32K 529 GB · 128K 536 GB
GLM 5.3
not listed
IQ4_XS
Kimi K2 Instruct
556 GB546.5 GB file
32K 554 GB · 128K 561 GB
GLM 5.3
409 GB365.3 GB file
32K 408 GB · 128K 417 GB
IQ4_NL
Kimi K2 Instruct
581 GB578.5 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
GLM 5.3
not listed
Q4_1
Kimi K2 Instruct
581 GB642.5 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
GLM 5.3
not listed
Q4_K_S
Kimi K2 Instruct
581 GB582.7 GB file
32K 580 GB · 128K 587 GB
GLM 5.3
not listed
Q5_K_S
Kimi K2 Instruct
710 GB706.6 GB file
32K 708 GB · 128K 715 GB
GLM 5.3
not listed
BF16
Kimi K2 Instruct
2057 GB2053.2 GB file
32K 2055 GB · 128K 2062 GB
GLM 5.3
1511 GB1508.0 GB file
32K 1510 GB · 128K 1519 GB
Kimi K2 Instruct
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Kimi-K2-Instruct-GGUF:Q4_K_MGLM 5.3
Ollama · Q4_K_M
ollama run hf.co/unsloth/GLM-5.3-GGUF| Spec | Kimi K2 Instruct | GLM 5.3 |
|---|---|---|
| Publisher | Moonshot AI | Z.ai |
| Parameters | 1026.4B | 753.3B |
| Active parameters | 33B per token | 42B per token |
| Architecture | DeepseekV3ForCausalLM | GlmMoeDsaForCausalLM |
| Context | 128K tokens | 1M tokens |
| Modalities | Chat, Function-calling | Chat, Function-calling |
| License | Other | Other |
| Released | Jul 2025 | Aug 2026 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is better, Kimi K2 Instruct or GLM 5.3?
GLM 5.3 leads llmrun Score 130.1 to 100.1; neither fits 24 GB. Choose GLM 5.3 for higher llmrun Score and stronger at reasoning.
Which needs less VRAM, Kimi K2 Instruct or GLM 5.3?
At Q4_K_M, Kimi K2 Instruct requires 619.7 GB while GLM 5.3 needs 456.2 GB, making GLM 5.3 the easier model to run on your local setup.
Can I run Kimi K2 Instruct or GLM 5.3 on a 16 GB GPU?
Kimi K2 Instruct does not fit (smallest quant needs 283.7 GB); GLM 5.3 does not fit (smallest quant needs 256 GB).
Which has a longer context window, Kimi K2 Instruct or GLM 5.3?
Kimi K2 Instruct supports 131,072 tokens and GLM 5.3 supports 1,048,576 tokens.