Fugu Ultra v2.0 vs GLM 5.1

Sakana AI · Global  |  Z.ai · China · Updated June 2026

Quick verdict

Pick Fugu Ultra v2.0 for sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the deepswe coding-repair benchmark or claims to outperform flagship models like gpt-6 astra and claude fable 5.1 despite its underlying orchestration pool reportedly excluding both of them. Pick GLM 5.1 for long-horizon autonomous agentic engineering (up to 8-hour runs) or state-of-the-art open-weight coding (topped swe-bench pro at launch). Choose GLM 5.1 if you need self-hosting or data privacy; Fugu Ultra v2.0 if you want a managed API.

Fugu Ultra v2.0 (Sakana AI) and GLM 5.1 (Z.ai) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Fugu Ultra v2.0 is sakana AI's flagship multi-agent orchestration model, claiming best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 self-reported benchmarks against monolithic frontier models — $5/$30 per million tokens. GLM 5.1 is an open-weight (MIT) Chinese coding model built for long-horizon agentic engineering, topping SWE-Bench Pro at launch while running autonomously for up to 8 hours. They diverge most on price, context window and open vs. closed weights — each quantified below from the models' real specs.

Key differences at a glance

Side-by-side specs

SpecFugu Ultra v2.0GLM 5.1
ProviderSakana AI (Global) Z.ai (China)
ReleasedSeptember 10, 2026 April 7, 2026
Context window1M tokens (~1,500 pages) 200K (~300 pages)
Price (in/out)$5/$30 per 1M tokens $1.4/$4.4 per 1M tokens
Open weight?No — API only Yes — self-hostable
Modalitiestext text, code
SWE-Bench VerifiedNot published Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1MNot published Not published

Who wins what

Sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the DeepSWE coding-repair benchmark

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Sakana AI's flagship multi-agent orchestration model, claiming best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 self-reported benchmarks against monolithic frontier models — $5/$30 per million tokens — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.

Claims to outperform flagship models like GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 despite its underlying orchestration pool reportedly excluding both of them

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Sakana AI's flagship multi-agent orchestration model, claiming best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 self-reported benchmarks against monolithic frontier models — $5/$30 per million tokens — and it is the newer of the two.

1M-token context window

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Its 1M tokens window holds about 5× more than GLM 5.1's 200K in a single prompt.

Long-horizon autonomous agentic engineering (up to 8-hour runs)

GLM 5.1

An open-weight (MIT) Chinese coding model built for long-horizon agentic engineering, topping SWE-Bench Pro at launch while running autonomously for up to 8 hours — and it runs cheaper at $1.4/$4.4 per 1M tokens.

State-of-the-art open-weight coding (topped SWE-Bench Pro at launch)

GLM 5.1

Open weights make this possible at all — Fugu Ultra v2.0 is API-only, so it cannot leave the vendor's servers.

Sustained tool use across thousands of calls

GLM 5.1

Fugu Ultra v2.0 is comparatively weak here — not a single trained model — Sakana describes Fugu as "a Multi-Agent System, Delivered as One Model" that dynamically routes tasks across a pool of other models, so head-to-head benchmark framing against monolithic frontier models should be read skeptically

Lowest cost at scale

GLM 5.1

At $1.4/$4.4 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.

Largest single-prompt input

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Its 1M tokens window is about 5× larger than GLM 5.1's 200K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.

Which should you pick?

A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume

GLM 5.1

At $1.4/$4.4 per 1M tokens it undercuts Fugu Ultra v2.0, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.

Someone analysing very long documents or codebases

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.

A team with data-privacy or self-hosting needs

GLM 5.1

Open weights let you run it on your own hardware; Fugu Ultra v2.0 is API-only.

Anyone whose priority is sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the deepswe coding-repair benchmark

Fugu Ultra v2.0

It is specifically built for that.

Anyone whose priority is long-horizon autonomous agentic engineering (up to 8-hour runs)

GLM 5.1

That is its strongest area.

Fugu Ultra v2.0: where it fits

Sakana AI's flagship multi-agent orchestration model, claiming best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 self-reported benchmarks against monolithic frontier models — $5/$30 per million tokens. Released September 10, 2026 by Sakana AI, it is built for sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the DeepSWE coding-repair benchmark, claims to outperform flagship models like GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 despite its underlying orchestration pool reportedly excluding both of them, and 1M-token context window.

Its trade-offs are real: not a single trained model — Sakana describes Fugu as "a Multi-Agent System, Delivered as One Model" that dynamically routes tasks across a pool of other models, so head-to-head benchmark framing against monolithic frontier models should be read skeptically, pricing rises to roughly $10/$45 per million tokens for prompts above 272K tokens, and benchmark comparisons against GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 are Sakana's own self-reported figures, not independently verified head-to-head scores. At $5 in / $30 out per million tokens, it sits in the premium price band.

GLM 5.1: where it fits

An open-weight (MIT) Chinese coding model built for long-horizon agentic engineering, topping SWE-Bench Pro at launch while running autonomously for up to 8 hours. Released April 7, 2026 by Z.ai, it is built for long-horizon autonomous agentic engineering (up to 8-hour runs), state-of-the-art open-weight coding (topped SWE-Bench Pro at launch), sustained tool use across thousands of calls, and self-hostable under a permissive MIT license.

Its trade-offs: text-only, with no image, audio, or video input, and 754B-parameter MoE demands heavy GPU resources to self-host. At $1.4 in / $4.4 out per million tokens, it sits in the mid price band.

The bottom line for this matchup

The defining split here is open vs. closed. GLM 5.1 gives you weights you control — self-host it, fine-tune it, keep data in-house, pay only for hardware. Fugu Ultra v2.0 gives you a managed, always-updated API with no infrastructure to run. Teams with GPUs, privacy requirements, or huge volume often favour the open model; teams that want zero ops and the latest capabilities favour the closed one. Capability is close enough that this operational question, not the benchmark, usually decides it.

Want both Fugu Ultra v2.0 and GLM 5.1 without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.

See pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is Fugu Ultra v2.0 or GLM 5.1 better for coding?

Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Fugu Ultra v2.0 leans toward sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the deepswe coding-repair benchmark while GLM 5.1 leans toward long-horizon autonomous agentic engineering (up to 8-hour runs), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.

Which is cheaper, Fugu Ultra v2.0 or GLM 5.1?

GLM 5.1 is open-weight, so self-hosting means no per-token fee (you pay for hardware instead), while Fugu Ultra v2.0 is API-metered at $5/$30 per 1M tokens. For most teams without GPUs, the API model is cheaper to start; at very high volume, self-hosting can win.

Which has the bigger context window?

Fugu Ultra v2.0 — 1M tokens vs 200K, about 5× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.

Can I use both Fugu Ultra v2.0 and GLM 5.1 together?

Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Fugu Ultra v2.0, GLM 5.1 and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.

Which is newer, Fugu Ultra v2.0 or GLM 5.1?

Fugu Ultra v2.0 — released September 10, 2026, about 5 months after GLM 5.1.

Related comparisons

Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.