Zai: Models Intelligence, Performance & Price
This analysis is intended to support you in choosing the best model provided by Zai for your use-case.
Most Intelligent
GLM-5.3 (max)GLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3 (low)GLM-5.2 (max)Intelligence Index
Total 4 models
Fastest
GLM-5.3 (max)GLM-5.2 (max)GLM-5.3 (low)GLM-5.3-FlashOutput speed
Total 4 models
Lowest Price
GLM-5.3-FlashGLM-5.3 (max)GLM-5.3 (low)GLM-5.2 (max)Blended price (per 1M tokens)
Total 4 models
Zai offers 4 models, each with different intelligence, performance, and pricing characteristics. Below is a comparison of the key metrics across models.
- For intelligence, the top models on Zai are GLM-5.3 (max) (45), GLM-5.3-Flash (42), and GLM-5.3 (low) (34).
- For output speed, the fastest models are GLM-5.3 (max) (93 t/s), GLM-5.2 (max) (88 t/s), and GLM-5.3 (low) (82 t/s).
- For latency, GLM-5.3 (max) (24.05s), GLM-5.2 (max) (26.14s), and GLM-5.3 (low) (27.21s) offer the lowest time to first answer token.
- For pricing, GLM-5.3-Flash ($0.10), GLM-5.3 (max) ($0.90), and GLM-5.3 (low) ($0.90) offer the lowest blended prices per 1M tokens. Prices vary up to 8.9x across models.
- For context window size, GLM-5.3 (max) (1M), GLM-5.3-Flash (1M), and GLM-5.3 (low) (1M) support the largest context windows on Zai.
- GLM-5.3 (max) offers the best combination of intelligence and speed. For cost optimization, GLM-5.3-Flash provides the most competitive pricing.
Intelligence Evaluations
Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index
Evaluations
Agentic knowledge work, (Elo-500)/2000
Knowledge
1 - hallucination rate
Agentic SaaS workflows
Agentic real-world work tasks, (Elo-500)/2000
Reasoning & knowledge
Professional document reasoning, All-pass
Agentic coding & terminal use
Long context reasoning
Coding
Physics reasoning
Agentic scientific research workflows in a terminal
Agentic software engineering in open-source repositories
Quantitative analysis on spreadsheets & documents
Legal agentic work, Hallucination-Gated All-Pass Rate
Agentic business operations
Kubernetes incident root-cause analysis
Medical long context reasoning
Visual reasoning
Intelligence Index vs. Price
Context Window
Context Window
Pricing
Intelligence Index vs. Price
Performance Summary
Output Speed vs. Price
Speed
Measured by Output Speed (tokens per second)
Output Speed
Latency
Measured by Time (seconds) to First Token
Latency: Time To First Answer Token
Cache Behaviour
Cache Hit Rate
Cost per Task vs. Cache Hit Rate
End-to-End Response Time
Seconds to output 500 tokens, calculated based on time to first token, 'thinking' time for reasoning models, and output speed
End-to-End Response Time vs. Price
Key definitions
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Zai
Zai offers 4 models that we track: GLM-5.3 (max), GLM-5.3-Flash, GLM-5.3 (low), and GLM-5.2 (max).
The most intelligent model available on Zai is GLM-5.3 (max) with an Intelligence Index score of 45.
The fastest model on Zai by output speed is GLM-5.3 (max) at 92.9 tokens per second.
The model with the lowest time to first answer token on Zai is GLM-5.3 (max) at 24.05s. Lower latency means faster initial response time.
The most affordable model on Zai by blended price is GLM-5.3-Flash at $0.10 per 1M tokens (7:2:1 cache hit/input/output ratio).
Prices on Zai vary up to 9x across models, from $0.10 per 1M tokens for GLM-5.3-Flash to $0.90 per 1M tokens for GLM-5.2 (max).
Yes, Zai offers an OpenAI-compatible API, making it easy to switch from OpenAI or use existing OpenAI SDK integrations.
Yes, all 4 models on Zai support JSON mode for structured output.
Yes, all 4 models on Zai support function calling (tool use).
Yes, Zai offers 4 reasoning models: GLM-5.3 (max), GLM-5.3-Flash, GLM-5.3 (low), and GLM-5.2 (max). Reasoning models use extended thinking to work through complex problems before providing an answer.
Yes, all 4 models on Zai are open weight models.
Yes, provider performance can vary over time due to infrastructure changes, load balancing, and updates. We continuously benchmark all providers and display historical performance trends in the "Over Time" charts.
When choosing a model on Zai, consider: intelligence (for quality-sensitive tasks), output speed (for throughput-intensive tasks), latency (for interactive applications requiring quick first responses), pricing (for cost-sensitive workloads), and features like context window size, JSON mode, or function calling support.