GLM is the name of the language model family from the Chinese company Zhipu AI, which operates internationally as Z.ai. The company releases its models under an open license and also offers a free web assistant and an OpenAI-compatible API. GLM's main difference from most competitors is its clear focus on coding and agents: its newer models are designed for long, multi-step jobs such as building a complete project or working with different tools.

What is GLM good for?#

  • Agentic coding: A programmer connects a GLM model to a command-line or editor coding tool so it writes code and fixes errors on a real project.
  • Building simple sites and apps: In the web assistant, you describe a landing page or small tool and get a working version.
  • Building slides and reports: From a topic or file, it makes a presentation ready for a meeting.
  • Deep research: For a topic, it browses several web sources and delivers a sourced report.
  • Private hosting on your own server: A company that doesn't want its code going to an outside service runs the open-weight GLM model on its own server.

Strengths and weaknesses#

Strengths:

  • Strong open-weight models with a permissive license for commercial use
  • Good performance in coding and agentic work
  • A free web assistant with agent features
  • An API compatible with common tools, usually cheaper than US competitors

Weaknesses:

  • Weaker writing in languages other than English and Chinese than the best-known assistants
  • Data is processed on a Chinese company's servers
  • Its large models need heavy hardware to run locally
  • Fewer learning resources and a smaller user community outside English and Chinese

Free version and pricing#

GLM is freemium. The web assistant is free, and at busy times paid users get priority. For programmers there are subscription coding plans that let you use GLM inside agentic coding tools, and the API is billed by usage. The open-weight models are free to download and you pay only for hardware. Check the official site for current prices.

Language support#

GLM understands many languages and replies in them, but its sentences can read like translations. For technical work in English there is no problem, but it isn't the first tool for writing polished content in other languages.

Getting started in three steps#

  1. Open the Z.ai web assistant and sign up with email or a Google account.
  2. Give it one specific job, such as "build a landing page for a sports equipment store", and preview the result.
  3. If you are a programmer, try the model in your own coding tool and compare it with your current one.

GLM alternatives#

  • Qwen: open and free, with broader language coverage and small models for local use.
  • DeepSeek: a popular open-weight rival for reasoning and code.
  • Kimi: strong at long text and deep research.
  • Claude Code: a more precise coding agent, but paid.

To get familiar with this kind of work, read coding agents: when AI changes the code itself and AI tools for programming: from chat to in-editor agents. If you plan to run a model on a server, see setting up an open-source model on a server for your website.