Grok 4.6 vs. GLM-5

Grok 4.6 is a frontier AI model from xAI focused on long-running agents, ambitious interactive work, visual projects, coding, research, and knowledge work. The model builds on Grok 4.5 and is designed to stay engaged across complex tasks that unfold over many steps. Users can apply Grok 4.6 to research unfamiliar domains, analyze information, work across codebases, generate applications, create work artifacts, and refine projects through iterative feedback. Its training included a longer supplemental run with curated model-generated data for reasoning and advanced technical concepts, high-quality engineering data, and an improved optimizer and training recipe. xAI also regenerated supervised fine-tuning trajectories across reasoning efforts, agent harnesses, STEM, software engineering, and knowledge work, then filtered problematic traces with model-based checks. Grok 4.6 was trained on agentic reinforcement learning tasks across knowledge work, general coding, kernel optimization, web development, computer-aided design, and related technical environments. The model is positioned as especially useful for turning broad product ideas into working first versions because it can structure an application, implement core interactions, and improve the result over several rounds. It also produces stronger first passes on visual and interactive projects than Grok 4.5, making it useful when teams need a substantial starting point for iteration. xAI reports that Grok 4.6 performs strongly across benchmarks such as Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, GDPVal-AA, DeepSWE, CursorBench, FrontierCode, APEX-Agents, Terminal-Bench, APEX-SWE, AA-Briefcase, and Harvey LAB. Grok 4.6 is available in Cursor, Grok Build, the xAI API, OpenRouter, Vercel, Cloudflare, and other partner environments, with a fast variant also available at higher pricing.

GLM-5 is Z.ai’s most advanced open-source model to date, purpose-built for complex systems engineering, long-horizon planning, and autonomous agent workflows. Building on the foundation of GLM-4.5, it dramatically scales both total parameters and pre-training data while increasing active parameter efficiency. The integration of DeepSeek Sparse Attention allows GLM-5 to maintain strong long-context reasoning capabilities while reducing deployment costs. To improve post-training performance, Z.ai developed slime, an asynchronous reinforcement learning infrastructure that significantly boosts training throughput and iteration speed. As a result, GLM-5 achieves top-tier performance among open-source models across reasoning, coding, and general agent benchmarks. It demonstrates exceptional strength in long-term operational simulations, including leading results on Vending Bench 2, where it manages a year-long simulated business with strong financial outcomes. In coding evaluations such as SWE-bench and Terminal-Bench 2.0, GLM-5 delivers competitive results that narrow the gap with proprietary frontier systems. The model is fully open-sourced under the MIT License and available through Hugging Face, ModelScope, and Z.ai’s developer platforms. Developers can deploy GLM-5 locally using inference frameworks like vLLM and SGLang, including support for non-NVIDIA hardware through optimization and quantization techniques. Through Z.ai, users can access both Chat Mode for fast interactions and Agent Mode for tool-augmented, multi-step task execution. GLM-5 also enables structured document generation, producing ready-to-use .docx, .pdf, and .xlsx files for business and academic workflows. With compatibility across coding agents and cross-application automation frameworks, GLM-5 moves foundation models from conversational assistants toward full-scale work engines.