Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu)
Chatbot and model API for Zhipu/Z.ai's GLM series, plus a subscription called GLM Coding Plan that makes the same models usable inside coding tools such as Claude Code, Cline or OpenCode.
At a Glance
Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu) is an AI tool for Assistants & workspaces (category: Productivity). Free access: Free plan. Paid from $18 (GLM Coding Plan Lite). Documented: 7 plans with prices and limits.
- Category
- Assistants & workspaces
- Paid from
- $18 / Month (GLM Coding Plan Lite)
- Free Option
- Free plan
- Plans
- 7
- Sources
- 9 verified sources
- Website
- z.ai (opens in a new tab)
Category: Productivity · Assistants & workspaces
Features
Zhipu AI offers multiple versions of the GLM-4 model through the BigModel API. GLM-4-Plus is the premium model at $0.04 per 1,000 tokens; GLM-4-Air is the budget variant at $0.005. Both models use a 128,000-token context window.
The API supports tool use, function calling, and optional web search. Each registered account receives an initial 1 million free tokens. The specialised CodeGeeX-4 model is also available through the BigModel platform.
- GLM-4-Plus: $0.04 per 1,000 tokens with 1M free tokens to start
- GLM-4-Air: $0.005 per 1,000 tokens for cost-efficient use cases
- CodeGeeX-4 code model for programming tasks
- 128,000-token context window for long documents
- Tool use and function calling in the API
- Web search as an optional tool parameter
Prices and plans
| Tier | Price | Period | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free API models / Z.ai Chat | free | Free | The pricing page lists GLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.5-Flash and GLM-4.6V-Flash as 'Free' in every column (Input, Cached Input, Cached Input Storage, Output) For all paid models 'Cached Input Storage' is currently listed as 'Limited-time Free' Chat at chat.z.ai; on z.ai/subscribe the vendor publishes only coding subscriptions, no paid chat tier |
| GLM Coding Plan Lite | $18 | Month | 2,000 credits per 5 hours, 10,000 credits per week Models GLM-5.3 and GLM-5.3-Flash; requests for GLM-5.2/GLM-5.1 are routed to GLM-5.3, GLM-5-Turbo/GLM-4.7 to GLM-5.3-Flash Usable in Claude Code, Cline, OpenCode and other officially supported tools Includes vision understanding plus Web Search MCP, Web Reader MCP and Zread MCP Credit usage = (input tokens x input multiplier + cached input tokens x cached multiplier + output tokens x output multiplier) / 10,000; GLM-5.3: 6.9 / 1.7 / 24; GLM-5.3-Flash: 2.3 / 0.56 / 8 Off-peak usage is charged at 50% of the credit rate; peak hours are Mon-Fri 14:00-18:00 Singapore time (UTC+8) Alternatively $43.20 per quarter (instead of $54, -20%) or $151.20 per year (instead of $216, -30%) on a continuous subscription |
| GLM Coding Plan Pro | $80 | Month | 12,000 credits per 5 hours, 60,000 credits per week Same model and tool scope as Lite Alternatively $192 per quarter (instead of $240, -20%) or $672 per year (instead of $960, -30%) on a continuous subscription |
| GLM Coding Plan Max | $168 | Month | 28,000 credits per 5 hours, 140,000 credits per week Same model and tool scope as Lite Alternatively $403.20 per quarter (instead of $504, -20%) or $1,411.20 per year (instead of $2,016, -30%) on a continuous subscription |
| GLM Coding Team Plan (tier PRO) | $88 | Seat and month | Minimum 2 seats, no upper limit; one seat per member, seats cannot be shared Per the docs, each Standard Seat gets 15,000 credits per 5 hours and 66,000 credits per week Central seat and permission management, per-member usage analytics, consolidated billing Optional on-demand usage overage with per-member spending limits; per the vendor billed at a limited-time 10% discount off the model API list price Vendor statement: 'Data is not used for model training by default' Continuous annual subscription: $1,056 per seat, renewal per the vendor at $950.40 |
| GLM Coding Team Plan (tier MAX) | $188 | Seat and month | Per the docs, each Premium Seat gets 35,000 credits per 5 hours and 155,000 credits per week Adds early access to new flagship models and priority access during peak hours Continuous annual subscription: $2,256 per seat, renewal per the vendor at $2,030.40 |
| API GLM-5.3 (per token) | $1.40 | 1 million Input tokens | Input $1.40, cached input $0.26, output $4.40 per 1M tokens 'Cached Input Storage' currently 'Limited-time Free' GLM-5.2 and GLM-5.1 at the same prices; GLM-5: $1 / $0.20 / $3.20 GLM-5.3-Flash at a limited-time 50% discount: $0.075 input (list $0.15), $0.015 cached input (list $0.03), $0.25 output (list $0.50); promotion ends 9 September 2026 at 24:00 Singapore time Other prices: Web Search $0.01 per use, GLM-Image $0.015 per image, CogVideoX-3 $0.20 per video, GLM-ASR-2512 $0.03 per 1M tokens |
Prices per vendor, excl. taxes/VAT where applicable.
Limits
Usable for European customers: per the privacy policy and terms of use the international service is operated by JINGSHENG HENGXING TECHNOLOGY PTE.LTD, 10 Anson Road, #26-03, International Plaza, Singapore. The terms require compliance with the laws 'including but not limited to the United States, the European Union and/or other government authorities'. No Chinese phone number is required; the privacy policy explicitly names third-party sign-in such as Google or GitHub. Note this is distinct from Zhipu's Chinese platform (open.bigmodel.cn), which is not covered here. For the GLM Coding Plan the terms restrict use to officially supported tools: the quota may not be used 'for general-purpose API access'. Privacy policy, section 8 'Where We Store Your Personal Data': 'We generally provide the Services from Singapore, and our group companies and their designated service providers are typically located in Singapore. As a result, your personal data is generally processed in Singapore.' On training use, the purpose table lists the purpose 'To improve and develop our Services and conduct research' with the legal basis 'Where necessary for our legitimate interests ... including in developing, improving, or promoting our Services, such as when we train and improve our models.' - covering, among other categories, 'Communication Information'. For the API the Data Processing Addendum (section 4b) states: 'The Company do not store any of the content the Customer or its End Users provide or generate while using our Services. This includes any texts, or other data you input. This information is processed in real-time to provide the Customer and End Users with the API Service and is not saved on our servers.' For the Team Plan the vendor states: 'Data is not used for model training by default: Code, prompts, conversations, and related content are excluded from model training by default.'
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FAQ
Is Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu) available for free?
Yes. A permanently free plan is published, not a time-limited trial.
Where is the vendor of Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu) based?
JINGSHENG HENGXING TECHNOLOGY PTE.LTD is based in Singapore. Regardless of that location, data processing and privacy terms are governed by the vendor's own contract.
How is Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu) billed?
Z.ai/GLM bills exclusively in US dollars worldwide, even when the site is automatically translated into German (for example $18, $80 or $168 as full monthly prices before the quarterly discount). There is no EUR or CHF price. For the GLM Coding Plan, the terms of use restrict it to officially supported tools; the allowance is not intended for general API access. The service is usable for European users, and a Chinese phone number is not needed for sign-up (for example via a Google or GitHub account).
How much does Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu) cost?
The cheapest paid plan of Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu) is GLM Coding Plan Lite at $18. 7 plans are documented in total, each with its price and limits.
Is Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu) currently available?
Z.ai / GLM (Zhipu) is still active. The international offering runs under the name Z.ai and, per the privacy policy, is operated by JINGSHENG HENGXING TECHNOLOGY PTE.LTD, registered in Singapore. Products: Z.ai Chat (chat.z.ai), the GLM API (docs.z.ai) and the 'GLM Coding Plan' subscription (z.ai/subscribe) for coding tools such as Claude Code, Cline and OpenCode. Current model line per the pricing page: GLM-5.3, GLM-5.3-Flash, GLM-5.2.
How we compare
We compare free access, paid entry, plan limits, features and the listed official sources. Unsourced figures stay marked as not published.
Only confirmed entries appear in the catalog. Prices, plans and limits come from listed official vendor pages. Missing figures stay marked as not published. Search results are ordered by Task match by default; category and task lists are alphabetical. Both can be switched to Free access first; neither is a quality ranking. The vendor page always wins.
Edited and checked by the AI Compare Ninja team
Sources
All details regarding plans, limits, and features are based on official vendor documentation and the primary sources verified below.
- https://z.ai/subscribe
- https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing
- https://docs.z.ai/devpack/overview
- https://docs.z.ai/devpack/teamplan
- https://docs.z.ai/devpack/notice/usage-revision
- https://docs.z.ai/legal-agreement/privacy-policy
- https://docs.z.ai/legal-agreement/terms-of-use
- https://docs.z.ai/legal-agreement/subscription-terms
- https://docs.z.ai/devpack/faq
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