• Updated 31 Oct, 14:35 UTC
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Pareto 26.9 vs GLM 5.3

6 prompts both ran·Specs and numbers·Change models

Pareto 26.9 took 10 min 32 s and $0.34 at list price, GLM 5.3 took 22 min 22 s and $0.34 at list price. GLM 5.3 took 2.1× as long, and both cost about the same.

Pareto 26.9

Unbiased · $7.50/M out

GLM 5.3

Z.ai · $1.40/M out · 3,306 HN pts

Pelican

Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle

Pareto 26.9's SVG for the "Pelican riding a bicycle" prompt

Pareto 26.9

41 s$0.1115k tokensAPI
GLM 5.3's SVG for the "Pelican riding a bicycle" prompt

GLM 5.3

4 min 2 s$0.08360k tokensAPI

Watch

Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.

Still of Pareto 26.9's page for the "Wristwatch that shows the current time" prompt

Pareto 26.9

2 min$0.0526.9k tokensAPI
Still of GLM 5.3's page for the "Wristwatch that shows the current time" prompt

GLM 5.3

2 min 1 s$0.02921k tokensAPI

Landing

Build the landing page for Lumen Cycles, a Copenhagen workshop that builds custom cargo bikes to order. Make it look like a real brand you would trust with 4,000 euros.

Still of Pareto 26.9's page for the "Landing page for a cargo bike workshop" prompt

Pareto 26.9

4 min 1 s$0.09012k tokensAPI
Still of GLM 5.3's page for the "Landing page for a cargo bike workshop" prompt

GLM 5.3

9 min$0.1391k tokensAPI

Breakout

Make a Breakout game I can play right now with the keyboard or the mouse. Give it several levels, a score and some juice.

Still of Pareto 26.9's page for the "Playable Breakout" prompt

Pareto 26.9

2 min 28 s$0.0648.4k tokensAPI
Still of GLM 5.3's page for the "Playable Breakout" prompt

Blank first frame. Press Run.

GLM 5.3

31 s$0.0096.7k tokensAPI

Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.

Pareto 26.9's SVG for the "Bookshop logo" prompt

Pareto 26.9

75 s$0.0152.0k tokensAPI
GLM 5.3's SVG for the "Bookshop logo" prompt

GLM 5.3

6 min 28 s$0.08460k tokensAPI

About

Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.

Patchbay is a small workshop in the heart of Rotterdam, where three people spend their days elbow-deep in the guts of vintage synthesizers. We fix the machines that made the sounds you grew up with—the ones that shaped entire genres and then got left in basements when the tech moved on. But we're not a museum. Our benches are covered in solder, schematics, and the occasional broken key that's been there for two weeks longer than we'd like to admit.

We started this studio because we got tired of seeing classic gear being stripped for parts, or worse, turned into Instagram decor. These instruments deserve better. They were built to make noise, and we want to keep them doing exactly that.

Between the three of us, we've fixed everything from a 1960s Buchla to a beat-up Juno that fell down a flight of stairs. If you've got a synth that's gone quiet, bring it in. We'll bring it back.

Pareto 26.9

6 s$0.006788 tokensAPI

Patchbay is a three-person workshop in Rotterdam where vintage synthesizers come back to life. Whatever lands on our bench — a battered Minimoog, a Juno with dead keys, an ARP silent since the eighties — gets the same treatment: careful diagnosis, honest advice, and repairs done right.

We started Patchbay because we believe a good synthesizer shouldn't die of old age. These machines are more than circuits and sliders — they're the sound of records you grew up with, and the reason some of us got into music in the first place. Every one we fix goes back out into the world ready to make more.

Between us we handle everything from recapping and calibration to keybed work and the hunt for parts nobody has made in decades. It's slow, meticulous work, and we like it that way. If something in your collection hums, crackles, or refuses to turn on, bring it in — we'll see what we can do.

GLM 5.3

19 s$0.0064.3k tokensAPI

Specs and numbers

Pareto 26.9GLM 5.3
MakerUnbiasedZ.ai
Made in—China
Released13 Oct 202618 Aug 2026
Price in, per M tokens$2.50$0.07
Price out, per M tokens$7.50$1.40
Context262,144 tokens1,048,576 tokens
Weightsclosedopen
Hacker News points—3,306
Time for the six prompts10 min 32 s22 min 22 s
List price of the six prompts$0.34$0.34

Both cost about the same at list price: $0.34 and $0.34. Pareto 26.9 was faster: 11 min 50 s less in total, and faster on 5 of the 6 prompts.

In the recording, Pareto 26.9's Breakout game plays; GLM 5.3's stopped painting. Pareto 26.9's landing page was cut off at the output limit (12,000 tokens). GLM 5.3's Breakout game showed a blank first frame when the still was taken.

Tea Garden experiment: GLM 5.3's game passed 1 of 5 checks; Pareto 26.9 was not in it.

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