Qwen3 235B A22B vs GLM 4.6

GLM 4.6 leads llmrun Score 103.1 to 99.6 (ranges overlap); neither fits 24 GB.

Model A · Alibaba

Qwen3 235B A22B

99.6llmrun Score

235.1B · 22.2B active · 40K context · Apache 2.0 · Apr 2025

ChatFunctions

Model B · Z.ai

GLM 4.6

103.1llmrun Score

356.8B · 34B active · 198K context · MIT · Sep 2025

ChatFunctions

Which should you choose?

Choose Qwen3 235B A22B if you want…

Fits a Mac 128 GB
Q3_K_L · 122.4 GB; GLM 4.6 needs 101 GB at its smallest quant
Lighter on memory
141.6 vs 214.7 GB at Q4_K_M

Choose GLM 4.6 if you want…

Higher llmrun Score
103.1 vs 99.6, ranges overlap
Longer context window
198K vs 40K tokens
Newer release
Sep 2025 vs Apr 2025

On your hardware

Each model at its default quant (Q4_K_M), a smaller one when it must. Estimates, ±20%.

MemoryQwen3 235B A22BGLM 4.6

8 GB

RTX 4060 · 8 GB tier

Qwen3 235B A22B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101.8 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

12 GB

RTX 3060 12GB · 12 GB tier

Qwen3 235B A22B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101.8 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

16 GB

RTX 5060 Ti 16GB · 16 GB tier

Qwen3 235B A22B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101.8 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

24 GBreference

RTX 4090 · 24 GB tier

Qwen3 235B A22B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101.8 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

32 GB

RTX 5090 · 32 GB tier

Qwen3 235B A22B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101.8 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

48 GB

RTX A6000 · 48 GB tier

Qwen3 235B A22B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101.8 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

Mac 32 GB

Mac Mini M4 · Macs

Qwen3 235B A22B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101.8 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

Mac 64 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Qwen3 235B A22B

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101.8 GB

GLM 4.6

Doesn't fit

smallest quant needs 101 GB

Mac 128 GB

Mac Studio M4 Max · Macs

Qwen3 235B A22B

Q3_K_L · ~21 tok/s

122.4 GB · up to 32Kbetter quant

GLM 4.6

IQ2_M · ~21 tok/s

123.3 GB · up to 16K

Reference GPU: RTX 4090. Tinted cell = the better pick on that machine (fits, more headroom, or at least 10% faster).

llmrun Score

with its 90% range · bars share one scale

Qwen3 235B A22B GLM 4.6

Overall

Qwen3 235B A22B

99.696–103

GLM 4.6

103.198–108

Coding

Qwen3 235B A22B

101.396–107

GLM 4.6

96.081–111

Agents

Qwen3 235B A22B

no data

GLM 4.6

104.399–109

Science

Qwen3 235B A22B

no data

GLM 4.6

99.878–121

Reasoning

Qwen3 235B A22B

99.292–106

GLM 4.6

no data

Qwen3 235B A22B · #48 of 92 open models · #30 of 71 that fit ≤192 GB

GLM 4.6 · #41 of 92 open models · #29 of 77 that fit ≤256 GB

Benchmarks

1 shared board: Qwen3 235B A22B leads 0, GLM 4.6 leads 1 · Benchmarks imported Oct 2026

BoardQwen3 235B A22BGLM 4.6

LMArena Text

Qwen3 235B A22B

1402.2#46/186 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

GLM 4.6

1424.2#31/186 open

ArenaLMArena · Oct 2026

17 more boards (other shared and single-model boards)

Only Qwen3 235B A22B (10)

Only GLM 4.6 (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.

QuantQwen3 235B A22BGLM 4.6

Q2_K

Qwen3 235B A22B

100 GB85.7 GB file

32K 103 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

152 GB130.7 GB file

32K 157 GB · 128K 173 GB

Q3_K_S

Qwen3 235B A22B

103 GB101.4 GB file

32K 106 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

157 GB154.4 GB file

32K 162 GB · 128K 177 GB

Q3_K_M

Qwen3 235B A22B

115 GB112.4 GB file

32K 118 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

175 GB170.6 GB file

32K 179 GB · 128K 195 GB

Q4_0

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

179 GB202.2 GB file

32K 184 GB · 128K 199 GB

Q4_K_M

Qwen3 235B A22B

142 GB142.2 GB file

32K 145 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

215 GB215.6 GB file

32K 220 GB · 128K 235 GB

Q5_K_M

Qwen3 235B A22B

168 GB166.8 GB file

32K 171 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

255 GB253.2 GB file

32K 260 GB · 128K 275 GB

Q6_K

Qwen3 235B A22B

194 GB193.0 GB file

32K 197 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

295 GB293.1 GB file

32K 300 GB · 128K 315 GB

Q8_0

Qwen3 235B A22B

236 GB249.9 GB file

32K 239 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

357 GB379.3 GB file

32K 362 GB · 128K 378 GB

15 more quants

IQ2_XXS

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

98.7 GB115.4 GB file

32K 104 GB · 128K 119 GB

IQ2_XS

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

108 GB101.0 GB file

32K 112 GB · 128K 128 GB

IQ2_S

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

112 GB101.9 GB file

32K 117 GB · 128K 132 GB

IQ2_M

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

121 GB121.9 GB file

32K 126 GB · 128K 141 GB

IQ3_XXS

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

139 GB144.7 GB file

32K 144 GB · 128K 159 GB

IQ3_XS

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

148 GB148.2 GB file

32K 153 GB · 128K 168 GB

IQ3_M

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

161 GB164.3 GB file

32K 166 GB · 128K 181 GB

Q3_K_L

Qwen3 235B A22B

121 GB111.2 GB file

32K 124 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

183 GB169.9 GB file

32K 188 GB · 128K 204 GB

IQ4_XS

Qwen3 235B A22B

127 GB125.5 GB file

32K 130 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

192 GB190.7 GB file

32K 197 GB · 128K 213 GB

IQ4_NL

Qwen3 235B A22B

not listed

GLM 4.6

201 GB201.6 GB file

32K 206 GB · 128K 222 GB

Q4_1

Qwen3 235B A22B

133 GB147.2 GB file

32K 136 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

201 GB223.6 GB file

32K 206 GB · 128K 222 GB

Q4_K_S

Qwen3 235B A22B

133 GB133.7 GB file

32K 136 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

201 GB202.8 GB file

32K 206 GB · 128K 222 GB

Q5_0

Qwen3 235B A22B

147 GB161.9 GB file

32K 150 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

not listed

Q5_K_S

Qwen3 235B A22B

162 GB161.9 GB file

32K 165 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

246 GB245.9 GB file

32K 251 GB · 128K 266 GB

BF16

Qwen3 235B A22B

471 GB470.3 GB file

32K 474 GB · 128K —

GLM 4.6

714 GB713.7 GB file

32K 719 GB · 128K 734 GB

How to run each

Qwen3 235B A22B

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/Qwen3-235B-A22B-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run Qwen3 235B A22B →

GLM 4.6

Ollama · Q4_K_M

$ollama run hf.co/unsloth/GLM-4.6-GGUF:Q4_K_M

All ways to run GLM 4.6 →

Specifications

Specifications of Qwen3 235B A22B and GLM 4.6
Spec	Qwen3 235B A22B	GLM 4.6
Publisher	Alibaba	Z.ai
Parameters	235.1B	356.8B
Active parameters	22B per token	34B per token
Architecture	Qwen3MoeForCausalLM	Glm4MoeForCausalLM
Context	40K tokens	198K tokens
Modalities	Chat, Function-calling	Chat, Function-calling
License	Apache 2.0	MIT
Released	Apr 2025	Sep 2025

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Qwen3 235B A22B or GLM 4.6?

GLM 4.6 leads llmrun Score 103.1 to 99.6 (ranges overlap); neither fits 24 GB. Choose Qwen3 235B A22B for fits a Mac 128 GB and lighter on memory; choose GLM 4.6 for higher llmrun Score and longer context window.

Which needs less VRAM, Qwen3 235B A22B or GLM 4.6?

At Q4_K_M, Qwen3 235B A22B requires 141.6 GB while GLM 4.6 needs 214.7 GB, making Qwen3 235B A22B the easier model to run on your local setup.

Can I run Qwen3 235B A22B or GLM 4.6 on a 16 GB GPU?

Qwen3 235B A22B does not fit (smallest quant needs 101.8 GB); GLM 4.6 does not fit (smallest quant needs 101 GB).

Which has a longer context window, Qwen3 235B A22B or GLM 4.6?

Qwen3 235B A22B supports 40,960 tokens and GLM 4.6 supports 202,752 tokens.