Chinese startup z.ai made its new GLM-5.3 model available through its programming interface at the same prices as the previous version, $1.40 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output. Independent testing by Artificial Analysis rates it level with Moonshot's Kimi K3 as the strongest openly available model. The same token price does not mean the same bill, because the model produces longer answers and costs more per completed task. Model weights are promised but have no date or licence terms yet.
What changed
GLM-5.3 was available only as a released model without API access; GLM-5.2 carried the same token prices.
What it unlocks
Calling z.ai's newest model directly from applications and agents at the same per-token price as the previous version.
- $1.40/$4.40 per 1M tokens
- cached input $0.26 per 1M
- Intelligence Index score 60
- ~$0.68 per index task vs $0.44
What you need to act on it
- a z.ai API account
- GLM Coding Plan subscribers are limited to the OpenAI Chat Completions-compatible protocol
Sources