GLM-4.6 pricing
GLM-4.6 API cost from Zhipu AI (GLM) — $0.430 per 1M input tokens and $1.74 per 1M output tokens. Popular open model. Estimate your real monthly bill below, then compare it against every other model.
Balanced open weights 200K context · all prices USD per 1M tokens, list price last verified 2026-06-27.
GLM-4.6 capabilities & limits
Representative specs for this tier — confirm exact limits in the Zhipu AI (GLM) docs.
Call GLM-4.6 from your code
The exact model string and endpoint to use. Works with the OpenAI SDK — just point base_url at the URL below.
glm-4.6https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4ZHIPU_API_KEYcurl https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $ZHIPU_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "glm-4.6",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}]
}'Model strings follow each provider's naming convention; confirm the current id in the Zhipu AI (GLM) docs before relying on it.
What a GLM-4.6 API call actually costs
Blended input + output cost at GLM-4.6's list rates — useful yardsticks before you commit to volume.
GLM-4.6 cost calculator
Enter your monthly volume to estimate the GLM-4.6 bill. Runs entirely in your browser.
Zhipu AI (GLM) models — GLM-4.6 in context
How GLM-4.6 prices against its siblings. Cheapest reference cost first.
| Model | Input /1M | Output /1M | Cost / call* | Context | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLM-4.5 Air Cheap open tier | $0.130 | $0.850 | $0.0010 | 128K | Fast / cheap open |
| GLM-4.6 Popular open model | $0.430 | $1.74 | $0.0022 | 200K | Balanced open |
| GLM-5.2 Open weights, 1M context | $0.950 | $3.00 | $0.0040 | 1M | Flagship open |
*Reference cost of one call with 1,000 input + 1,000 output tokens — a neutral yardstick. Use the calculator for your real usage. Cheapest row highlighted.
How GLM-4.6 pricing works
GLM-4.6 is billed per token: a lower input price of $0.430 per million tokens for everything you send, and a higher output price of $1.74 per million for everything the model generates. To turn that into a real GLM-4.6 bill, multiply by your monthly request volume and average prompt/response length — the calculator above does exactly that.
GLM-4.6 does not list a separate cached-input rate, so every input token bills at $0.430 per million. If repeated context is a big part of your prompts, a model with prompt caching may end up cheaper in practice.
List prices move fast — always confirm the current numbers on the official Zhipu AI (GLM) pricing page before relying on them for budgeting.
GLM-4.6 pricing FAQ
How much does the GLM-4.6 API cost?
GLM-4.6 costs $0.430 per 1M input tokens and $1.74 per 1M output tokens. A typical 3K-input / 500-output call works out to about $0.0022.
What is GLM-4.6's context window?
GLM-4.6 has a 200K-token context window. Tokens you put in the prompt are billed at the $0.430 per 1M input rate.
Does GLM-4.6 charge extra for output tokens?
Yes. Output (generated) tokens cost $1.74 per 1M, versus $0.430 per 1M for input — about 4.0× more, which is normal for LLM APIs.
Is there a cheaper alternative to GLM-4.6?
In the same balanced tier, Command R (Cohere) is cheaper at $0.150 in / $0.600 out. The overall cheapest model on the market is Gemini 1.5 Flash-8B.
Is GLM-4.6 open weights?
Yes — GLM-4.6 is released as open weights, so you can self-host it instead of paying per-token API rates. The prices here are a representative hosted endpoint.