Best AI for coding / head-to-head

GLM 5.2 vs Kimi K3for coding

The verdict

GLM 5.2 wins, 9289

Same 18 coding tasks, marked blind by three rival labs. GLM 5.2 took 7 tasks, Kimi K3 took 5, 6 tied. Tested 16 Aug 2026.

Where they differed most

The task — Retry with backoff

Write an async retry wrapper in TypeScript: exponential backoff with jitter, a maximum attempt count, and it must NOT retry on 4xx responses other than 429. Maximum 30 lines. State what happens on the final failure.

GLM 5.210/10
```typescript
export async function retry(fn: () => Promise<Response>, maxAttempts = 5, baseDelay = 1000): Promise<Response> {
  for (let attempt = 1; attempt <= maxAttempts; attempt++) {
    try {
      const res = await fn();
      if (res.ok) return res;
      // Do not retry on 4xx errors except 429 (Too Many Requests)
      if (res.status >= 400 && res.status < 500 && res.status !== 429) return res;
      if (attempt === maxAttempts) return res;
    } catch (err) {
      if (attempt === maxAttempts) throw err;
    }
    // Exponential back…
```typescript
export async function withRetry<T>(
  task: () => Promise<T>,
  maxAttempts = 5,
  baseDelayMs = 200,
): Promise<T> {
  for (let attempt = 1; ; attempt++) {
    try {
      return await task();
    } catch (raw) {
      const e = raw as { status?: number; response?: { status?: number } };
      const status = e.status ?? e.response?.status; // fetch-style or axios-style
      const fourxx = status !== undefined && status >= 400 && status < 500;
      if ((fourxx && status !== 429) || attempt >= maxAttempts) throw raw;
      const…

Task by task

TaskGLM 5.2Kimi K3
Duration parser810
Find the bug1010
SQL without window functions1010
Infinite useEffect109
Typed debounce810
Leftmost binary search108
Security review99
Safe migration79
Fix the code not the test109
Race condition99
Retry with backoff105
Recursive type108
Bash one-liner109
Explain and cost99
Regex with limits810
Callback to async108
Diagnose from a trace89
Idempotency99

Full receipts: GLM 5.2, Kimi K3 · judges claude-sonnet-5, gemini-3.1-pro-preview, gpt-5.6-terra

Questions people ask

Which is better for coding: GLM 5.2 or Kimi K3?

GLM 5.2 — it scored 92/100 against 89/100 on our 18-task coding suite, winning 7 tasks to 5 with 6 tied. Every answer was marked blind by three judges from three rival AI labs.

How was this tested?

Both models answered the identical published coding tasks. Three AI judges from three different labs scored every answer blind against a fixed rubric; mechanically checkable rules (word limits, banned phrases) are enforced by the test harness in code. The raw outputs and judge verdicts are downloadable.

More coding head-to-heads: GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Luna · GPT-5.6 Luna vs Kimi K3 · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Sol · GPT-5.6 Sol vs Kimi K3 · GLM 5.2 vs GPT-5.6 Terra · GPT-5.6 Terra vs Kimi K3

Full ranking: Best AI for coding · model pages: GLM 5.2, Kimi K3