Gemini 4 Carbon vs GLM 5.3
Gemini 4 Carbon took 18 min 40 s and $1.05 at list price, GLM 5.3 took 22 min 22 s and $0.34 at list price. GLM 5.3 took 1.2× as long, and Gemini 4 Carbon cost 3.1× as much.
Gemini 4 Carbon
Google · $10.00/M out · 308 HN pts
GLM 5.3
Z.ai · $1.40/M out · 3,306 HN pts
Pelican
Generate an SVG of a pelican riding a bicycle
Watch
Draw a mechanical wristwatch that shows the current local time, with a sweeping seconds hand and a date window. Make it look expensive.
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.
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.
Logo
Design a logo for Night Heron, an independent bookshop that only opens after dark.
About
Write the opening of the About us page for Patchbay, a three-person studio in Rotterdam that repairs vintage synthesizers. About 150 words.
Tucked away in a bright workshop near the Rotterdam docks, Patchbay is a three-person studio dedicated to keeping electronic music history alive. We repair, restore, and calibrate vintage synthesizers, drum machines, and outboard gear. Whether it is a temperamental Juno with failing voice chips, a road-worn Minimoog drifting out of tune, or an obscure polysynth needing a complete overhaul, our benches are built for machines that make noise.
Between the three of us, we combine decades of experience in electronics, sound design, and obsessive troubleshooting. We do not view classic synthesizers as fragile museum pieces meant to sit behind glass; they are working instruments built to be played, patched, and pushed to their limits. Armed with original schematics, precision test gear, and a deep respect for analog circuitry, we bring tired hardware back from the brink—ready for another forty years in the studio or on stage.
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.
Specs and numbers
| Gemini 4 Carbon | GLM 5.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Z.ai | |
| Made in | US | China |
| Released | 10 Nov 2026 | 18 Aug 2026 |
| Price in, per M tokens | $2.00 | $0.07 |
| Price out, per M tokens | $10.00 | $1.40 |
| Context | 1,048,576 tokens | 1,048,576 tokens |
| Weights | closed | open |
| Hacker News points | 308 | 3,306 |
| Time for the six prompts | 18 min 40 s | 22 min 22 s |
| List price of the six prompts | $1.05 | $0.34 |
GLM 5.3 was cheaper: $0.71 less at list price, and less on each of the 6 prompts. Gemini 4 Carbon was faster: 3 min 42 s less in total, and faster on 3 of the 6 prompts.
In the recording, Gemini 4 Carbon's Breakout game plays; GLM 5.3's stopped painting. 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; Gemini 4 Carbon was not in it.





