GLM

1:16 GLM is the family of AI models made by Zhipu AI of Beijing, which sells them internationally as Z.ai. You can chat with it free at chat.z.ai, download the weights, call the API, or subscribe to the GLM Coding Plan, which runs GLM inside coding agents such as Claude Code and Cline from $18 a month (as of Nov 6, 2026). The newest models, GLM-5.3 and GLM-5.3-Flash, were posted on Aug 25, 2026.

GLM is aimed squarely at coding: Z.ai says GLM-5.3 is the strongest open-weight coding model, and on Artificial Analysis's Coding Agent Index Mistral calls it the leading open model. Pick it for a cheap subscription that powers your favorite coding agent, or for a strong open model to host. For a general everyday assistant, ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini offer more. See Best AI Coding Agent.

Quick facts

GLM Coding Plan

The GLM Coding Plan is a subscription that lets you use GLM-5.3 and GLM-5.3-Flash inside more than 20 agent tools, including Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cline and Z.ai's own ZCode, for coding and office tasks. Requests for older GLM models are routed to GLM-5.3 automatically. Each plan has a 5-hour and a weekly allowance of credits:

Source: GLM Coding Plan overview, read Nov 6, 2026. Z.ai's subscribe page did not show the Pro and Max prices in a readable form that day. All plans include vision understanding and web search and web reader tools.

8:27 Any GLM key works in Claude Code through its settings file. In a Jun 29, 2026 Teacher's Tech video, Jamie added a Z.ai API key to Claude Code's settings, started it on GLM-5.2 and had it build a one-page landing site, which took 52 seconds and about eight cents of API credit.

API prices

Per million tokens. Source: Z.ai pricing, read Nov 6, 2026.

Models

GLM-5.3 uses the same base model as GLM-5.2 with new post-training. Z.ai reports a 50% gain over GLM-5.2 on its internal code benchmark and open-model-leading scores on Terminal Bench 3.0, and says its cybersecurity ability grew faster than expected. It always reasons, with low, high and max effort. In Z.ai's own table it trails OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol and Anthropic's Fable 5 on most coding tests listed.

GLM-5.3-Flash is a newly trained, natively multimodal model with 320 billion parameters, 18 billion active, under the MIT license. Z.ai says it beats GLM-5.2 at a tenth of the price; it powers the free chat.z.ai.

Earlier models: GLM-4.7 (Dec 2025), GLM-5 (Feb 2026), GLM-5.1 (Apr 2026) and GLM-5.2 (Jun 2026), all on Hugging Face.

10:37 Open weights do not mean a laptop can run them. In the same Teacher's Tech video, Jamie noted that GLM-5.2 has more than 700 billion parameters and its full version is over a terabyte, so even shrunk versions need a serious workstation, while the browser chat and the API run the full model with no such hardware.

License

GLM-5.3-Flash is MIT licensed. The GLM-5.3 License allows commercial use, modification and resale; only a company selling model-as-a-service whose group revenue tops $10 billion over 12 months must first reach a separate agreement with Z.ai.

GLM vs the alternatives

Kimi is the closest rival for agentic coding with open weights; Z.ai's own table scores Kimi K3 within a point of GLM-5.3 on Terminal Bench 2.1. DeepSeek is cheaper per token in the API. Claude and its Claude Code subscription lead on hard coding tasks but cost more. GitHub Copilot and Cursor bundle a full editor. Pick GLM for the lowest-cost subscription that powers the agent you already use.

Frequently asked questions

Is GLM free? Yes. The chatbot at chat.z.ai is free and runs GLM-5.3-Flash, and GLM's weights are free to download; the API and the GLM Coding Plan are paid.

How much is the GLM Coding Plan? The GLM Coding Plan starts at $18 a month for Lite, as of Nov 6, 2026; Pro and Max give 6 and 14 times Lite's credits at higher prices.

What is the latest GLM model? GLM-5.3 and GLM-5.3-Flash, released by Z.ai on Aug 25, 2026.

Is Z.ai the same as Zhipu AI? Yes. Z.ai is the international brand of Zhipu AI, the Beijing company that makes the GLM models.

Can I use GLM in Claude Code? Yes. The GLM Coding Plan is built to run GLM-5.3 inside Claude Code and other agents such as Cline, OpenCode and Codex.

Sources

• GLM Coding Plan overview, Z.ai docs, read Nov 6, 2026
• Pricing, Z.ai docs, read Nov 6, 2026
• GLM-5.3, Z.ai docs, read Nov 6, 2026
• GLM-5.3, Z.ai on Hugging Face, Aug 25, 2026
• GLM-5.3-Flash, Z.ai on Hugging Face, Aug 25, 2026
• Z.ai models, Hugging Face, read Nov 6, 2026
• Z.ai chat, Z.ai, read Nov 6, 2026
• Mistral Large 4 (Le Chonk) is now open weight, Mistral AI, Oct 29, 2026
• How to use GLM 5.2 - Beginners Tutorial, Teacher's Tech, Jun 29, 2026 (video)