Z.ai review

Z.ai is Zhipu AI’s platform for using its GLM model family through chat, coding plans, agent execution and developer APIs. The homepage describes tasks including software engineering, multimodal analysis, web search, document creation and multi-step reasoning. That is a broad set of uses, but access and limits depend on which product you choose.

The free web chat plan includes one seat and access to three free API models: GLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.5-Flash and GLM-4.6V-Flash. For developers, the pay-as-you-go API has no base subscription fee; you pay for model usage. Separate GLM Coding plans bundle usage credits for coding workflows. They are not the same as unlimited access to every GLM model or tool: the pricing page lists quotas for each plan, while free-plan rate limits are not published.

Z.ai offers several ways to access GLM models, so the right fit depends on whether you want to chat, build with an API or use a coding plan. The free tier gives you a way to try web chat and three free API models without a subscription. For API users, the pricing page lists GLM-5.3 at $1.40 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens; GLM-5.3-Flash is $0.15 and $0.50, respectively. There is no base API subscription fee, though usage still costs money for paid models.

Coding plans start at $18 per seat monthly for Lite, or $12.60 per month with annual billing, a 30% discount according to the pricing information. Pro is $80 monthly or $56 with annual billing; Max is $168 or $117.60. Each includes MCP integrations, and off-peak requests use half the quota. The platform also lists paid tools such as web search at $0.01 per use. That gives buyers a clear starting point, but not a complete estimate: prepaid API bundles and coding-plan usage bundles have no published prices.

The coding plans have firm quotas, not a single monthly allowance. Lite includes 2,000 credits per rolling five-hour window and 10,000 per week; Pro includes 12,000 per five hours and 60,000 per week; Max includes 28,000 per five hours and 140,000 per week. The pricing page does not publish the free tier’s rate limits. Team plan pricing is also not published, though its listed weekly caps are up to 60 million GLM-5.3 tokens and 150 million GLM-5.3-Flash tokens per seat.

Some Reddit users say their coding-plan limits run down quickly or that the value no longer beats alternatives; others report that the models work well for their coding needs. Those are individual accounts, not a reliable measure of typical usage. One thread also describes setup and API problems, while commenters say they use Z.ai without issues. We would treat those reports as a reason to check compatibility and quotas before committing, not as proof that the service will fail. If you need web search, note that it is a separate $0.01-per-use tool, not a published inclusion in the coding-plan quotas.

Z.ai has a free web chat and API tier, but its coding plans start at $18 per seat monthly, or $12.60 per month with annual billing, according to the pricing details checked on November 6, 2026. The Lite plan includes 2,000 credits per rolling five-hour window and 10,000 per week. Pro jumps to $80 monthly ($56 annually) for 12,000 credits per five hours and 60,000 per week. Max costs $168 monthly ($117.60 annually) and includes 28,000 credits per five hours and 140,000 per week. Those are sizable price jumps; check whether the quotas fit your use before committing. Off-peak requests use 50% of quota on these plans.

The API has no base subscription fee: GLM-5.3 is listed at $1.40 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens. Web Search costs $0.01 per use; GLM-Image is $0.015 per image. The Team plan’s seat prices and prepaid API or coding-usage bundles are not published. Annual billing is listed for coding plans at a 30% discount; API annual billing is not published.

The migration effort depends on how you use Z.ai. Moving from web chat means adopting Z.ai’s chat interface; moving an application to its cloud APIs means checking your integration against Z.ai’s API details. The published material does not specify compatibility with other providers, migration tools, or data-export options, so we can’t say how much code or chat history transfers. Confirm those points before moving production workloads.

There is some pricing exposure to plan around: coding plans have rolling five-hour and weekly credit caps, while API use is metered. Team seat prices are not published, which makes cost comparisons harder. The published material also does not include Reddit posts or comments, so we can’t substantiate a claim about why users leave Z.ai or what support complaints they report. Before switching away, check whether you can export what you need and replace any model-specific API calls; those details are not published here.