GLM-4.6 Instruct vs Nova Pro Max: which model should you choose?
We compared GLM-4.6 Instruct and Nova Pro Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Nova Pro Max has the stronger average benchmark score; GLM-4.6 Instruct is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
GLM-4.6 Instruct
GLM-4.6 Instruct is a multimodal model from Zhipu AI. It offers a 1,000,000-token context window, costs $5.15 per million input tokens and $24.32 per million output tokens, and averages 80.4 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $5.15 / 1M
- Output
- $24.32 / 1M
- Context
- 1,000,000
- Avg score
- 80.4
- Open weights
- Yes
Nova Pro Max
Nova Pro Max is a multimodal model from Amazon. It offers a 1,000,000-token context window, costs $14.05 per million input tokens and $71.59 per million output tokens, and averages 81.2 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $14.05 / 1M
- Output
- $71.59 / 1M
- Context
- 1,000,000
- Avg score
- 81.2
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GLM-4.6 Instruct | Nova Pro Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $5.15 | $14.05 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $24.32 | $71.59 | A |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 128,000 | 16,384 | A |
| Average score | 80.4 | 81.2 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1426.6 | 1423.2 | A |
| Open weights | Yes | No | A |
Benchmark comparison
GLM-4.6 Instruct wins 7, Nova Pro Max wins 5, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GLM-4.6 Instruct | Nova Pro Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 80.6 | 84.2 | 3.6 | Nova Pro Max |
| GPQA Diamond | 75.8 | 78.3 | 2.5 | Nova Pro Max |
| SWE-bench Verified | 70.5 | 67.4 | 3.1 | GLM-4.6 Instruct |
| HumanEval | 85.3 | 87.5 | 2.2 | Nova Pro Max |
| MATH-500 | 84.9 | 83.8 | 1.1 | GLM-4.6 Instruct |
| AIME 2025 | 74.5 | 79.3 | 4.8 | Nova Pro Max |
| LiveCodeBench | 72.6 | 77.0 | 4.4 | Nova Pro Max |
| IFEval | 87.4 | 86.4 | 1.0 | GLM-4.6 Instruct |
| TruthfulQA | 83.8 | 83.4 | 0.4 | GLM-4.6 Instruct |
| HellaSwag | 90.6 | 88.9 | 1.7 | GLM-4.6 Instruct |
| MMMU | 78.9 | 77.2 | 1.7 | GLM-4.6 Instruct |
| Arena Elo | 1426.6 | 1423.2 | 3.4 | GLM-4.6 Instruct |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GLM-4.6 Instruct costs about $9.94 per million tokens and Nova Pro Max costs about $28.44. GLM-4.6 Instruct is roughly 65% cheaper than Nova Pro Max. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 1,000,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GLM-4.6 Instruct wins 7, Nova Pro Max wins 5, and 0 are tied. On the index average, Nova Pro Max leads GLM-4.6 Instruct by 0.8 points (81.2 versus 80.4).
The price picture favours GLM-4.6 Instruct. The context picture is effectively a tie. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with Nova Pro Max for quality-sensitive work and GLM-4.6 Instruct for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose GLM-4.6 Instruct if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 128,000-token output limit.
- You need open weights for self-hosting or fine-tuning.
Choose Nova Pro Max if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
FAQ
Is GLM-4.6 Instruct better than Nova Pro Max?
On the index average, Nova Pro Max leads GLM-4.6 Instruct by 0.8 points (81.2 versus 80.4). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GLM-4.6 Instruct wins 7 benchmarks, Nova Pro Max wins 5.
Which is cheaper, GLM-4.6 Instruct or Nova Pro Max?
GLM-4.6 Instruct is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $9.94 per million tokens, versus $28.44 for Nova Pro Max.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 1,000,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
GLM-4.6 Instruct is open weights; Nova Pro Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Nova Pro Max for quality-sensitive work and GLM-4.6 Instruct for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.