GLM 5.1 API pricing
Zhipu · Mid-range price tier · MIT · released 2026-04. Prices in USD per 1 million tokens. Data snapshot: 2026-11-12.
A support ticket workload of 100K requests a month costs $430.00 on GLM 5.1; the next cheaper model in the Mid-range price tier for this workload, Claude Haiku 4.5, does it for $400.00. The price we quote for GLM 5.1 has changed 14 times since 2026-08-15, most recently on 2026-11-12 when the quoted host changed (+5.3%); it is now the 57th cheapest of 113 models in the Mid-range price tier. Buying from Chutes rather than at the price we quote lowers the token price by about 34%, for a quantized fp8 build. It is rated a stable release but does not meet all four criteria of the FinOps Friendly badge.
- Input: $1.40 per 1M tokens
- Output: $4.40 per 1M tokens
- Batch API (in/out): Not published
- Prompt-cache read: $0.26 per 1M tokens
- Context window: 205K tokens
- Arena ELO: 1463 as of 2026-11-08
Available on
Direct API, OpenRouter
Curated by hand; check with the provider before committing.
Market position
On blended price ($3.50 per 1M tokens at 30% input, 70% output) it is cheaper than 50% of models in the Mid-range price tier: 57th cheapest of 113. Across every price tier it is cheaper than 28% of priced text models in the catalogue: 217th cheapest of 303. Its Arena ELO of 1463 ranks 27th of the 160 models that carry one, tied with one other, above 83% of them. With an Arena score of 1463, GLM 5.1 clears OptimNow's Standard working quality threshold: Standard (Arena 1420+), used for meeting summary, invoice processing and call summary. It is 7 points under the Strong bar (Arena 1470+), within the benchmark's 20-point noise. 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 5.1 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 205K context window once costs $0.287 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 11 different hosts. 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.
Cheapest host: Chutes at $0.90 input / $2.90 output per 1M tokens, 34% below the price we quote on the blended price (30% input, 70% output). It serves a quantized fp8 build, which is not the same product as the full-precision model. A support ticket workload at 100K requests a month costs $280.00 there against $430.00 at the price we quote, a difference of $150.00 a month. The dearest, Venice, charges 1.5x the cheapest.
| Host | Input $/1M | Output $/1M | Precision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chutes | $0.90 | $2.90 | fp8 |
| StreamLake | $0.966 | $3.036 | fp8 |
| SiliconFlow | $1.19 | $3.74 | fp8 |
| AtlasCloud | $1.26 | $3.96 | fp8 |
| Alibaba | $1.33 | $4.18 | fp8 |
| Novita (price we quote) | $1.38 | $4.40 | fp8 |
| Z.AI (model maker, price we quote) | $1.40 | $4.40 | fp8 |
| Baidu (price we quote) | $1.40 | $4.40 | fp8 |
| GMICloud (price we quote) | $1.40 | $4.40 | fp8 |
| Friendli (price we quote) | $1.40 | $4.40 | not declared |
| Venice (price we quote) | $1.4014 | $4.4044 | fp8 |
List prices as published on 2026-11-12, via OpenRouter. Negotiated rates, committed-use discounts and provisioned capacity are not shown. These listings are promotional rates, below the host's standard rate: StreamLake's, 31% off; and Venice's, 9% off.
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 | $327 – $430 |
| Knowledge Q&A | 2,000 / 800 | $472 – $632 |
| Meeting Summary | 10,000 / 1,200 | $1.8K – $1.9K |
| Marketing Content | 2,500 / 1,800 | $1.1K |
| Coding Task | 3,000 / 2,000 | $1.1K – $1.3K |
| Invoice Processing | 1,500 / 600 | $423 – $474 |
| Call Summary | 2,000 / 700 | $565 – $588 |
| Agent Workflow | 6,000 / 3,000 | $1.7K – $2.2K |
Price history
GLM 5.1 has been in our daily price archive since tracking began on 2026-08-15, when it listed at $0.966 input / $3.036 output per 1M tokens. The price we quote has changed 14 times since then, 8 of them a change of quoted host rather than a repricing. The latest change, on 2026-11-12, was +5.3% on the blended price (30% input, 70% output), to $1.40 input / $4.40 output (quoted host changed, not a repricing). Net of all changes, the blended price is +44.9% against 2026-08-15.
| Date | Old price (in / out) | New price (in / out) | Blended change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-12 | $1.33 / $4.18 | $1.40 / $4.40 | +5.3% (quoted host changed, not a repricing) |
| 2026-11-11 | $1.40 / $4.40 | $1.33 / $4.18 | -5.0% (quoted host changed, not a repricing) |
| 2026-10-28 | $0.966 / $3.036 | $1.40 / $4.40 | +44.9% (quoted host changed, not a repricing) |
| 2026-10-27 | $1.40 / $4.40 | $0.966 / $3.036 | -31.0% (quoted host changed, not a repricing) |
| 2026-10-21 | $0.966 / $3.036 | $1.40 / $4.40 | +44.9% |
9 earlier changes are not listed.
Alternatives to GLM 5.1
1 of the 4 comparable models below costs less than GLM 5.1: Kimi K2.6 undercuts it by 26%, for 8 Arena points less.
- Next cheaper model in the Mid-range price tier: GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI) at $3.375 blended, 4% less.
- Next more expensive: Qwen3.7 Max (Alibaba) at $3.54 blended, 1% more.
The nearest models in the Mid-range price tier on Arena ELO, each with its blended price and score difference against GLM 5.1.
- Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): $2.00 in / $10.00 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1468 (117% more expensive, 5 ELO points higher)
- Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google): $1.25 in / $10.00 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1458 (111% more expensive, 5 ELO points lower)
- GLM 5.2 (Zhipu): $0.007 in / $6.80 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1469 (36% more expensive, 6 ELO points higher)
- Kimi K2.6 (Moonshot): $0.65 in / $3.41 out per 1M, Arena ELO 1455 (26% cheaper, 8 ELO points lower)
- Cheapest within 15 Arena points: GLM 5.3 Flash (Zhipu), 98% cheaper, 8 ELO points higher, out of 23 models in that band.
- Highest Arena ELO within 20% of this price: Gemini 3.8 Flash (Google), 19% cheaper, 37 ELO points higher, out of 13 models in that price band.
Other models from Zhipu
The 8 nearest to GLM 5.1 in price, of 16 other Zhipu models in the catalogue. Prices per 1M tokens, input then output.
- GLM 4.6: $0.50 / $2.00
- GLM 4.5: $0.60 / $2.20
- 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
- GLM 5.2: $0.007 / $6.80
- GLM 5.3 Prime: $2.80 / $8.80
All 17 Zhipu models and prices
Common questions about GLM 5.1 pricing
- How much does GLM 5.1 cost?
- GLM 5.1 costs $1.40 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 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 5.1?
- Cheapest host: Chutes at $0.90 input / $2.90 output per 1M tokens, 34% below the price we quote on the blended price (30% input, 70% output). It serves a quantized fp8 build, which is not the same product as the full-precision model. A support ticket workload at 100K requests a month costs $280.00 there against $430.00 at the price we quote, a difference of $150.00 a month. The dearest, Venice, charges 1.5x the cheapest. Host rates as listed on 2026-11-12.
- Does GLM 5.1 offer batch or cached pricing?
- Yes, for prompt caching only. Cache reads cost $0.26 per 1M tokens, as listed on 2026-11-12. No batch pricing is published.
- What would GLM 5.1 cost per month?
- With the Support Ticket profile (1,500 input and 500 output tokens per request), 100,000 requests a month cost about $430 on GLM 5.1 at the list price quoted on 2026-11-12.
- Can GLM 5.1 be self-hosted?
- Yes. GLM 5.1 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 5.1 changed?
- GLM 5.1 has been in our daily price archive since tracking began on 2026-08-15, when it listed at $0.966 input / $3.036 output per 1M tokens. The price we quote has changed 14 times since then, 8 of them a change of quoted host rather than a repricing. The latest change, on 2026-11-12, was +5.3% on the blended price (30% input, 70% output), to $1.40 input / $4.40 output (quoted host changed, not a repricing). Net of all changes, the blended price is +44.9% against 2026-08-15.
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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