AllocateClaude Sonnet 5 vs GLM 5.2
On provider list prices, GLM 5.2 costs $1.40 per million input tokens against $3 for Claude Sonnet 5: 2.1x apart. Output is $4.40 against $15 (3.4x). On Allocate both bill at list plus the 7% transaction fee.
Claude Sonnet 5G GLM 5.2Specifications and provider list prices from the Allocate catalog, checked 2026-07-08. Billed price is list plus the 7% transaction fee.
What the numbers say
Take 1,000,000 requests a month at 1,200 input and 350 output tokens each. That workload costs $3,220 a month on GLM 5.2 and $8,850 on Claude Sonnet 5 at list: a gap of $5,630, or 2.7x.
Claude Sonnet 5 reads 1M tokens per request against 256K for GLM 5.2, 3.8x the window. That decides which one can take whole documents without splitting them.
Choose Claude Sonnet 5 for
- Judgment calls with policy context
- Customer-facing writing
- Review and escalation flows
Choose GLM 5.2 for
- Agents on open weights
- Code and structured outputs
- Fine-tuning toward an owned model
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Claude Sonnet 5 or GLM 5.2?
GLM 5.2, on this workload shape. At list prices it is $1.40/$4.40 per million tokens in and out against $3/$15 for Claude Sonnet 5. Billed on Allocate: $1.50/$4.71 against $3.21/$16.05, list plus 7%.
Which has the bigger context window?
Claude Sonnet 5: 1,000,000 tokens (1M) against 262,144 (256K) for GLM 5.2.
Can I fine-tune Claude Sonnet 5 or GLM 5.2?
GLM 5.2 publishes open weights (Not listed) and can be fine-tuned on your own data. Claude Sonnet 5 is a closed model served over API; its weights are not available.
Related comparisons
Run the numbers on your workload
Or don’t choose. On Allocate a route name is the contract: point yours at one model today, swap to the other tomorrow, and compare them on your live traffic with per-token metering.