GLM-5 & GLM-4.6 API: Complete Guide — Pricing, Tutorial & Best Practices 2026

Zhipu AI's GLM family offers some of the most affordable Chinese AI models.

GLM Pricing

Model	Input (1M)	Output (1M)
GLM-4.6 Flash	FREE	FREE
GLM-5	$0.14	$0.14
GLM-4.6	$0.07	$0.07
DeepSeek V4 Pro	$0.14	$0.28
GPT-4o	$2.50	$10.00

GLM-4.6 Flash is completely free. GLM-5 matches DeepSeek V4 Pro on input cost while being cheaper on output.

Python Quick Start

from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://aiwave.live/v1", api_key="***")

# GLM-5
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="glm-5",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Explain GLM-5."}]
)

Full guide: https://aiwave.live/blog/glm-5-api-guide