GLM API Pricing (November 2026)
GLM API prices run from $0.07 to $8.90 per million tokens across 16 current models. The cheapest is GLM-4.7 Flash at Free input and Free output per million tokens. The flagship, GLM-5.3, costs $1.40 input and $4.40 output per million tokens. Every rate below was read on Zhipu (Z.ai / GLM)'s own pricing page, on the date shown in its row.
| Model | Input /M | Cache read /M | Output /M | Batch in /M | Batch out /M | Context | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GLM-5.3 glm-5.3 | $1.40 | $0.26−81% | $4.40 | — | — | 1M | Flagship | 2026-10-28 |
GLM-5.3-FlashX glm-5.3-flashx | $0.37 | $0.075−80% | $1.25 | — | — | 1M | Current | 2026-10-28 |
GLM-5.3-FlashX-Legal glm-5.3-flashx-legal | $0.37 | $0.075−80% | $1.25 | — | — | 1M | Restricted · Selected enterprise customers only - API access is granted by application through z.ai/consultation/legal | 2026-10-28 |
GLM-5.3-Flash glm-5.3-flash | $0.15 | $0.03−80% | $0.50 | — | — | 1M | Current | 2026-10-28 |
GLM-5.2 glm-5.2 | $1.40 | $0.26−81% | $4.40 | — | — | 1M | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-5.1 | $1.40 | $0.26−81% | $4.40 | — | — | 200K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-5 | $1.00 | $0.20−80% | $3.20 | — | — | 200K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4 32B (0414, 128K) | $0.10 | — | $0.10 | — | — | 128K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4.7 | $0.60 | $0.11−82% | $2.20 | — | — | 200K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4.7 FlashX | $0.07 | $0.01−86% | $0.40 | — | — | 200K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4.7 Flash | Free | Free | Free | — | — | 200K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4.6 | $0.60 | $0.11−82% | $2.20 | — | — | 200K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4.5 X | $2.20 | $0.45−80% | $8.90 | — | — | 128K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4.5 AirX | $1.10 | $0.22−80% | $4.50 | — | — | 128K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
GLM-4.5 glm-4.5 | $0.60 | $0.11−82% | $2.20 | — | — | 128K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4.5 Air | $0.20 | $0.03−85% | $1.10 | — | — | 128K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-4.5 Flash | Free | Free | Free | — | — | 128K | Current | 2026-10-28 |
| GLM-5 Turbo | $1.20 | $0.24−80% | $4.00 | — | — | 200K | Deprecated | 2026-10-28 |
US dollars per million tokens, list rates on Zhipu (Z.ai / GLM)'s own API. Cache read is the price of a cached input token. Batch is the asynchronous API, where the vendor offers one. The date in each row is when we last read it on the vendor's pricing page; it links to that page.
GLM API monthly cost estimates
What light use (10M input + 2M output tokens a month), medium use (100M input + 20M output tokens a month), heavy use (1B input + 200M output tokens a month) costs on each current model, at list price with no caching and no batch discount.
| Model | Input / output per 1M | Light · 10M + 2M | Medium · 100M + 20M | Heavy · 1B + 200M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLM-4.7 Flash, GLM-4.5 Flash | Free / Free | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| GLM-4.7 FlashX | $0.07 / $0.40 | $1.50 | $15.00 | $150 |
| GLM-4 32B (0414, 128K) | $0.10 / $0.10 | $1.20 | $12.00 | $120 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | $0.15 / $0.50 | $2.50 | $25.00 | $250 |
| GLM-4.5 Air | $0.20 / $1.10 | $4.20 | $42.00 | $420 |
| GLM-5.3-FlashX | $0.37 / $1.25 | $6.20 | $62.00 | $620 |
| GLM-4.7, GLM-4.6, GLM-4.5 | $0.60 / $2.20 | $10.40 | $104 | $1,040 |
| GLM-5 | $1.00 / $3.20 | $16.40 | $164 | $1,640 |
| GLM-4.5 AirX | $1.10 / $4.50 | $20.00 | $200 | $2,000 |
| GLM-5.3, GLM-5.2, GLM-5.1 | $1.40 / $4.40 | $22.80 | $228 | $2,280 |
| GLM-4.5 X | $2.20 / $8.90 | $39.80 | $398 | $3,980 |
Prompt caching and the Batch API cut these figures; the next sections show by how much. For your own token counts, use the LLM API cost calculator.
GLM API price history
GLM API price changes and releases
Releases and corporate moves from Zhipu / Z.ai. Sourced from Z.ai docs, Zhipu press, and Wikipedia — verified at publication.
docs.z.ai — the international Z.ai brand and API for the full GLM catalog, including free Flash tiers. OpenAI-compatible; cache-hit input is a fraction of base.
CHINA · DOMESTICopen.bigmodel.cn — Zhipu's China-domestic platform (BigModel / 智谱), keeping data inside mainland China for domestic compliance.
OPEN-WEIGHT · SELF-HOSTGLM open weights — GLM-4.5, GLM-4.6, and the GLM-4 32B snapshot are published for self-hosting, fully outside any China-routing of your data.
DeepSeek
MIT open weights at the lowest cost-per-token. Comparable open-weight stance; Zhipu counters with free tiers and stronger agentic-coding tooling integration.
CHINESE PEERAlibaba (Qwen)
Broad open-weight catalog with 119-language coverage and multimodality. Qwen is wider and multimodal; Zhipu is leaner and coding-focused with free tiers.
SIX-TIGERS PEERMoonshot (Kimi)
1T-param open-weight MoE and long-context heritage. A fellow Beijing "Tiger"; Moonshot chases scale, Zhipu chases breadth + free access.
PRIMARY RIVALOpenAI
Frontier benchmarks + global ecosystem (GPT-5). Closed and far pricier; Zhipu's GLM-4.6 is pitched as Claude-Sonnet-class on coding at a fraction of the cost.
FRONTIER LEADERAnthropic
Leads coding + reasoning with Claude. Notably, GLM models are tuned to plug into Claude Code — Zhipu targets the same agentic-coding niche far cheaper.
MEDICAL-AI SPECIALISTBaichuan
The Beijing lab behind the Baichuan general models and the medical M-series. Founded in 2023 by Wang Xiaochuan (former CEO of search engine Sogou), Baichuan has pivoted hard toward healthcare AI — its open-source Baichuan-M3 tops several medical benchmarks — while keeping a general-purpose 4-series lineup.
GLM API pricing FAQ
Practical questions about GLM pricing, free tiers, open weights, and sanctions.
Q · 01 Which GLM model should I start with?
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$0.60/$2.20) — it plugs into Claude Code, Cline, and similar tools. For the frontier: GLM-5.2 ($1.4/$4.4). Prototyping for free? GLM-4.7 Flash is $0/M. See the use case picker above. Q · 02 Are there really free models?
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$0/M) for registered users, rate-limited but with no per-token charge and up to 200K context. The cheapest paid tier is GLM-4.7 FlashX at $0.07/$0.40. Few labs offer free frontier-adjacent tiers like this. Q · 03 Are GLM models open-weight?
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Q · 04 Is Zhipu under US sanctions?
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Q · 05 Where is my data stored?
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Q · 06 Why is GLM popular for coding?
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$0.60/$2.20, GLM-4.7 is a popular low-cost backend for coding agents.Zhipu AI (智谱) was spun out of Tsinghua University in 2019 by professors Tang Jie and Li Juanzi, and is led by CEO Zhang Peng. It develops the GLM (General Language Model) series with Tsinghua's KEG lab, and operates internationally under the Z.ai brand. It is one of China's "Six Little Tigers" of AI.
Zhipu's lineup is unusually broad and price-aggressive: the GLM-5.3 flagship at $1.40/$4.40 with its native-multimodal sibling GLM-5.3-Flash a ninth of that, the earlier GLM-5.2 and GLM-5.1 at the same flagship rate, GLM-5 base below them, the coding-focused GLM-4.7 (compatible with Claude Code, Cline, Roo Code), a premium GLM-4.5 X tier, and — distinctively — two free models (GLM-4.7 Flash and GLM-4.5 Flash) plus an ultra-cheap GLM-4.7 FlashX at $0.07/M. Several models, including GLM-4.5 and GLM-4.6, are released as open weights.
On funding, Zhipu raised from Alibaba, Tencent, Ant Group, and Saudi Arabia's Prosperity7, with a valuation pushed above $20 billion by 2025. It was the first of the "Six Tigers" to complete an IPO, listing in early 2026.
Two facts must be stated plainly. First, in January 2025 the US Commerce Department added Zhipu to the Entity List over national-security concerns — which restricts its access to US technology and matters for some Western buyers' procurement. Second, in February 2026 Zhipu said it had trained a major model on Huawei chips, a response to those very chip restrictions.
The trade-offs: most of the priced lineup here is text/code-focused — vision arrived at the top of the range with GLM-5.3-Flash, and Z.ai's separate GLM-4.6V family is not yet in this catalogue — the direct China platform stores data under Chinese rules, and the Entity-List status is a real procurement consideration. But Zhipu's open weights and free tiers let you sidestep the hosted API entirely. Versus DeepSeek and Moonshot, Zhipu competes on coding strength, free access, and breadth.