GLM 4.5 API pricing
Zhipu · Mid-range price tier · MIT · released 2025-07. Prices in USD per 1 million tokens. Data snapshot: 2026-11-12.
A support ticket workload of 100K requests a month costs $200.00 on GLM 4.5; the next cheaper model in the Mid-range price tier for this workload, R1 0528, does it for $182.50. GLM 4.5 has held the same list price since 2026-08-15 and is the 13th cheapest of 113 models in the Mid-range price tier. Only one host, Z.AI, sells it, so there is no second price to shop. It is rated a stable release but does not meet all four criteria of the FinOps Friendly badge.
- Input: $0.60 per 1M tokens
- Output: $2.20 per 1M tokens
- Batch API (in/out): Not published
- Prompt-cache read: $0.11 per 1M tokens
- Context window: 131K tokens
- Arena ELO: 1430 as of 2026-11-08
Market position
On blended price ($1.72 per 1M tokens at 30% input, 70% output) it is cheaper than 88% of models in the Mid-range price tier: 13th cheapest of 113, tied with one other. Across every price tier it is cheaper than 43% of priced text models in the catalogue: 173rd cheapest of 303, tied with one other. Its Arena ELO of 1430 ranks 66th of the 160 models that carry one, tied with one other, above 58% of them. With an Arena score of 1430, GLM 4.5 clears OptimNow's Standard working quality threshold: Standard (Arena 1420+), used for meeting summary, invoice processing and call summary. Each threshold is a distance below the best ranked model, which scores 1530 on Arena scores as of 8 Nov 2026.
Licence, size and capabilities
GLM 4.5 is open source: its weights are published under MIT, an OSI-approved licence with no field-of-use limit, so it can be self-hosted as well as bought by the token. Its parameter count is not published. Listed capabilities: Text, Reasoning, Agents. Filling its 131K context window once costs $0.0786 in input tokens at list price.
Pricing by host
A host is a company that runs the model and sells it by the token: the model maker, a cloud platform like Amazon Bedrock, Azure or Vertex, or an independent host. One model, several hosts, and often several prices. This model is sold by 1 host. The price we quote elsewhere on this page is marked. We quote one host's rate so that models stay comparable; it is not a recommendation to buy there.
Z.AI is the only host with a published rate, $0.60 input / $2.20 output per 1M tokens, which is the price we quote. It serves a quantized fp8 build, which is not the same product as the full-precision model.
| Host | Input $/1M | Output $/1M | Precision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Z.AI (model maker, price we quote) | $0.60 | $2.20 | fp8 |
List prices as published on 2026-11-12, via OpenRouter. Negotiated rates, committed-use discounts and provisioned capacity are not shown.
Monthly cost at 100K requests, by business use case
From the after-discounts figure (prompt caching on the cached input share, batch API for async workloads, only where Zhipu publishes those rates), which assumes you implement both, to the list price. One figure means no discount is published.
| Use case | Tokens (in/out) | Monthly (after discounts – list) |
|---|---|---|
| Support Ticket | 1,500 / 500 | $156 – $200 |
| Knowledge Q&A | 2,000 / 800 | $227 – $296 |
| Meeting Summary | 10,000 / 1,200 | $815 – $864 |
| Marketing Content | 2,500 / 1,800 | $522 – $546 |
| Coding Task | 3,000 / 2,000 | $547 – $620 |
| Invoice Processing | 1,500 / 600 | $200 – $222 |
| Call Summary | 2,000 / 700 | $264 – $274 |
| Agent Workflow | 6,000 / 3,000 | $814 – $1.0K |
Price history
GLM 4.5 has been in our daily price archive since tracking began on 2026-08-15, when it listed at $0.60 input / $2.20 output per 1M tokens. No list price change since tracking began on 2026-08-15. Last checked against the 2026-11-12 snapshot.
Alternatives to GLM 4.5
2 of the 4 comparable models below cost less than GLM 4.5: MiMo-V2.5 undercuts it by 12%, for 2 Arena points less.
- Next cheaper model in the Mid-range price tier: Grok Build 0.1 (xAI) at $1.70 blended, 1% less.
- Next more expensive: Kimi K2 0711 (Moonshot) at $1.781 blended, 4% more.
The nearest models in the Mid-range price tier on Arena ELO, each with its blended price and score difference against GLM 4.5.
- Grok 4.6 (xAI): $2.00 in / $6.00 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1430 (179% more expensive, same Arena ELO)
- MiMo-V2.5 (Xiaomi): $0.40 in / $2.00 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1428 (12% cheaper, 2 ELO points lower)
- R1 0528 (DeepSeek): $0.50 in / $2.15 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1428 (4% cheaper, 2 ELO points lower)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite (Google): $0.30 in / $2.50 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1434 (7% more expensive, 4 ELO points higher)
- Cheapest within 15 Arena points: Gemma 4 26B A4B (Google), 95% cheaper, 4 ELO points higher, out of 43 models in that band.
- Highest Arena ELO within 20% of this price: MiMo-V2.5-Pro (Xiaomi), 18% cheaper, 34 ELO points higher, out of 22 models in that price band.
Other models from Zhipu
The 8 nearest to GLM 4.5 in price, of 16 other Zhipu models in the catalogue. Prices per 1M tokens, input then output.
- GLM 5.3 FlashX Legal: $0.37 / $1.25
- GLM 5.3: $0.0699 / $1.40
- GLM 4.5V: $0.60 / $1.80
- GLM 4.6: $0.50 / $2.00
- GLM 4.7: $0.60 / $2.20
- GLM 5: $1.00 / $3.20
- GLM 5 Turbo: $1.20 / $4.00
- GLM 5V Turbo: $1.20 / $4.00
All 17 Zhipu models and prices
Common questions about GLM 4.5 pricing
- How much does GLM 4.5 cost?
- GLM 4.5 costs $0.60 per 1M input tokens and $2.20 per 1M output tokens. That is the model maker's own rate (Z.AI). Prices as listed on 2026-11-12.
- Which host is cheapest for GLM 4.5?
- Z.AI is the only host with a published rate, $0.60 input / $2.20 output per 1M tokens, which is the price we quote. It serves a quantized fp8 build, which is not the same product as the full-precision model. Host rates as listed on 2026-11-12.
- Does GLM 4.5 offer batch or cached pricing?
- Yes, for prompt caching only. Cache reads cost $0.11 per 1M tokens, as listed on 2026-11-12. No batch pricing is published.
- What would GLM 4.5 cost per month?
- With the Support Ticket profile (1,500 input and 500 output tokens per request), 100,000 requests a month cost about $200 on GLM 4.5 at the list price quoted on 2026-11-12.
- Can GLM 4.5 be self-hosted?
- Yes. GLM 4.5 is open source: its weights are published under MIT, an OSI-approved licence with no field-of-use limit, so it can be self-hosted as well as bought by the token.
- Has the price of GLM 4.5 changed?
- GLM 4.5 has been in our daily price archive since tracking began on 2026-08-15, when it listed at $0.60 input / $2.20 output per 1M tokens. No list price change since tracking began on 2026-08-15. Last checked against the 2026-11-12 snapshot.
Its weights are published, which changes what you may run yourself: the cost gap between open weights and proprietary APIs.
These are list prices. Your real cost also depends on caching and batching, negotiated discounts, marketplace agreements, and the contracts you already have. OptimNow audits exactly that.
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