DeepSeek V4 Flash (284B/13B, 3-bit ~103GB) is leaner than GLM-5 (744B/40B, 2-bit ~241GB); GLM-4.6 matches it; GLM-4.5-Air is lighter than both. How the footprints compare, sourced.
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GLM and DeepSeek are the two heavyweight open-weight families of 2026, and both are mixture-of-experts models far too big to run casually — but DeepSeek's V4 Flash is markedly more memory-efficient than GLM-5. V4 Flash is 284B total / 13B active and quantises to about 103GB at 3-bit, while GLM-5 is 744B / 40B active at about 241GB. Here's how the two compare for running locally, with sourced numbers and no hands-on claims.
The local footprint, side by side
GLM vs DeepSeek V4 — local memory · verified 24 Sep 2026
GLM-4.5-Air
Params (total / active)
106B / 12B
Smallest quant
~60GB (4-bit)
Realistic home
One 80GB card / 128GB unified
GLM-4.6
Params (total / active)
355B
Smallest quant
~135GB (2-bit)
Realistic home
~205GB RAM + offload / multi-GPU
DeepSeek-V4-Flash
Params (total / active)
284B / 13B
Smallest quant
~103GB (3-bit)
Realistic home
~110GB RAM / multi-GPU / cloud
GLM-5
Params (total / active)
744B / 40B
Smallest quant
~241GB (2-bit)
Realistic home
256GB Mac / multi-GPU / cloud
Params (total / active)
Smallest quant
Realistic home
GLM-4.5-Air
106B / 12B
~60GB (4-bit)
One 80GB card / 128GB unified
GLM-4.6
355B
~135GB (2-bit)
~205GB RAM + offload / multi-GPU
DeepSeek-V4-Flash
284B / 13B
~103GB (3-bit)
~110GB RAM / multi-GPU / cloud
GLM-5
744B / 40B
~241GB (2-bit)
256GB Mac / multi-GPU / cloud
The read: DeepSeek-V4-Flash is the more efficient heavyweight — its 3-bit build (~103GB) fits a ~110GB-RAM machine, less than GLM-5's ~241GB. If you want GLM quality at a similar footprint, GLM-4.6 (2-bit ~135GB) is the closer match. And if memory is tight, GLM-4.5-Air (106B) is lighter than either V4 model. We cover the DeepSeek side in DeepSeek V4 Flash's hardware reality and what it costs to run.
Run either heavyweight on rented multi-GPUReferral link
DeepSeek-V4-Flash is more memory-efficient than GLM-5 — its 3-bit quant is about 103GB versus GLM-5's ~241GB — so V4 Flash is the easier heavyweight to run. But GLM-4.6 (2-bit ~135GB) is comparable, and GLM-4.5-Air (106B, ~60GB) is lighter than any V4 model. If you want the smallest footprint overall, GLM-4.5-Air wins.
How much memory does DeepSeek V4 Flash need?
Per its Hugging Face card and Unsloth's quants, the 3-bit GGUF is about 103GB (runnable on a ~110GB-RAM device) and the 8-bit is about 162GB. It's 284B total but only 13B active per token, and supports a 1M-token context. It's a large-memory or cloud model, not a single-consumer-card one.
Which is better quality, GLM or DeepSeek V4?
Both families sit at the top of the open-weight rankings (Artificial Analysis, September 2026), with GLM-5.3 tied with Kimi K3 at the top of the open-weight index (score 60) and DeepSeek V4 strong on coding and reasoning benchmarks. For local use the practical difference is memory footprint, not a large quality gap — pick by what your hardware can hold.
