glm-models

GLM Model Family

The GLM (General Language Model) family is developed by z.ai (formerly Zhipu AI / 智谱AI). These models support text generation, vision, code, embeddings, image generation, and video generation. All recent models are open-weight under MIT license.

• Docs: https://docs.z.ai/
• API Base URL: https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4/
• Pricing: https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing

Flagship Text Models

Model	Architecture	Context	Key Features
glm-5	~745B MoE (44B active)	200K in / 128K out	Agentic engineering, tool streaming, long-horizon tasks, MIT
glm-5-turbo	Same, optimized	200K in / 128K out	Improved stability for long-chain agent tasks
glm-4.7	~400B MoE	200K in / 128K out	Coding-focused, Preserved Thinking, Turn-level Thinking, MIT
glm-4.7-flash	Lightweight	Reduced	Free tier, lighter capability
glm-4.6	355B total	200K	Strong code benchmarks, agent frameworks, MIT
glm-4.5	355B / 32B active	128K	Hybrid reasoning (thinking/non-thinking modes), deep thinking
glm-4.5-x	Premium tier	128K	Higher capability, premium pricing
glm-4.5-air	106B / 12B active	128K	Compact variant of GLM-4.5
glm-4.5-flash	Lightweight	128K	Free tier

Thinking Mode

GLM-4.5+ models support hybrid reasoning — toggle between deep thinking and instant response:

{
  "model": "glm-4.7",
  "messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Solve this step by step" }],
  "thinking": { "type": "enabled" }
}

• Preserved Thinking (GLM-4.7): Retains thinking blocks across multi-turn conversations
• Turn-level Thinking (GLM-4.7): Per-turn control — disable for lightweight requests, enable for complex tasks
• Tool Streaming (GLM-5): Stream output during tool calling (tool_stream: true)

Vision / Multimodal Models

Model	Parameters	Context	Description
glm-4.6v	106B / 12B active	128K	Vision understanding, function calling
glm-4.6v-flash	9B	—	Free, open weights, commercial license
glm-4.5v	106B VLM	—	Vision-language model

Vision API Example

curl "https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4/chat/completions" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "glm-4.6v",
    "messages": [{
      "role": "user",
      "content": [
        {"type": "text", "text": "What is in this image?"},
        {"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "https://example.com/image.jpg"}}
      ]
    }]
  }'

Specialized Models

Model	Category	Description
glm-image	Image generation	Text-to-image (Jan 2026)
glm-ocr	OCR	Document and image OCR
cogview-3-plus	Image gen	High-quality text-to-image
cogvideox	Video gen	Text-to-video generation
cogvideox-flash	Video gen	Fast video generation

Embedding Models

Model	Dimensions	Description
embedding-3	2048	General-purpose text embeddings
embedding-2	1024	Previous generation embeddings

curl "https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4/embeddings" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "model": "embedding-3",
    "input": "What is machine learning?"
  }'

Model Selection Guide

Use Case	Recommended Model	Why
Agentic tasks	glm-5	Tool streaming, long-horizon planning
Coding	glm-4.7	Coding-focused, Preserved Thinking
Complex reasoning	glm-4.5	Hybrid reasoning with deep thinking
General chat	glm-4.5-flash	Free, good quality
High throughput	glm-4.5-air	Compact, fast inference
Image understanding	glm-4.6v	Best vision model with function calling
Embeddings/search	embedding-3	Latest generation
Image creation	glm-image	Latest generation (Jan 2026)
Budget-conscious	glm-4.5-flash	Free tier available

Claude Code Model Mapping

When using z.ai's Anthropic-compatible endpoint with Claude Code, map models to slots:

Claude Code Slot	Recommended GLM Model	Rationale
Opus	glm-5	Most capable, agentic
Sonnet	glm-4.7	Strong coding, balanced cost
Haiku	glm-4.5-air	Fast, cost-effective

Pricing (per 1M tokens, USD)

Model	Input	Output
glm-5	~$1.00	~$3.20
glm-4.7	$0.60	$2.20
glm-4.7-flash	Free	Free
glm-4.5	~$0.20	~$1.10
glm-4.5-x	—	$8.90
glm-4.5-flash	Free	Free
glm-4.6v	~$0.14	~$0.41
glm-4.6v-flash	Free	Free

Prices approximate; see docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing for current rates. Batch API available at 50% cost.

Unique Features

• MIT license: GLM-4.5, 4.6, 4.7, and 5 are all open-weight under MIT
• 200K context: GLM-4.6, 4.7, and 5 support 200K input with up to 128K output
• Hybrid reasoning: Toggle deep thinking on/off per request or per turn
• Tool streaming: GLM-5 streams output during tool calls for real-time agent UX
• Free tiers: glm-4.5-flash, glm-4.7-flash, glm-4.6v-flash are free
• Domestic chip training: GLM-5 trained on Huawei Ascend chips, GLM-4.6 on Cambricon — zero NVIDIA dependency
• Bilingual strength: Particularly strong in Chinese + English tasks
• Anthropic-compatible API: Native Claude Code integration without proxies
• Native function calling: OpenAI-style tool description format in all recent models

References

• z.ai Developer Docs
• GLM-5 Overview
• GLM-4.7 Docs
• GLM-4.6 Docs
• GLM-4.5 Docs
• Pricing
• z.ai on GitHub
• z.ai on Hugging Face