Zhipu AI's open-weight GLM models — strong on coding and agentic tasks, cheap and self-hostable
Free
Average score: 6.8/10 across 8 dimensions. How we score →
GLM is the model family from Zhipu AI (known internationally as Z.ai), one of China's leading AI startups. The GLM models are open-weight and particularly strong on coding, tool use and agentic workflows, which has made them popular with developers. There's a free chat tier, a cheap hosted API, and downloadable weights you can self-host — and Zhipu's international API service says it doesn't store API content. As with other Chinese models, the hosted service carries data-jurisdiction and content caveats; self-hosting removes them.
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Best at: PowerYes, GLM (Zhipu AI) is completely free. There are no paid plans — you get full access without a credit card or account upgrade. It scores 8/10 for free-tier quality on Pickurai (Useful free tier, soft limits).
GLM (Zhipu AI) is excellent value — Pickurai rates it 9/10 for value for money (Excellent ratio vs. alternatives). Combined with a power score of 8/10 and ease of use at 6/10, it delivers strong results that justify its price for most users.
GLM (Zhipu AI) scores 6.8/10 on average across all 8 Pickurai dimensions. The most popular alternatives in the Writing category are ChatGPT (7.4/10 avg, Free + from $8/mo) and Claude (7.9/10 avg, Free + from $20/mo). GLM (Zhipu AI) stands out particularly for its Value for Money score of 9/10. See the alternatives section below for a full side-by-side comparison.
