Software price guides AI Z.ai
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Z.ai pricing in the US
Z.ai, Zhipu AI's international platform, run from Singapore, sells the GLM Coding Plan to buyers in the US in US dollars before tax: Lite, Pro and Max, each licensed to one person, and Team for 2 or more people with standard or premium seats. Plan quota works only in Z.ai's supported coding tools. Only Team can pay for use past its limits, and the Z.ai API for GLM models is priced separately per million tokens.
Country
- Starting price
- Free plan
- Paid from US$18/month (GLM Coding Plan Lite)
- Pricing model
- Per person for one user
- Per seat for teams
- Plus Team overage at API rates
- Billing
- Monthly, quarterly or yearly
- Yearly 30% off; Team yearly 10% off
- Tax
- Tax excluded
- Prices in USD
- YOY change
- Not enough history
- Last updated
- 18 Oct 2026
How much does Z.ai cost in the US?
Plans
A free tier, three plans for one person and Team seats, priced in US dollars before tax.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | Who it is for | Key limits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z.ai Free | US$0 per user | Not offered | Free browser chat and free Flash API models | Key limits
|
| GLM Coding Plan Lite | US$18 per user | US$13 per user | Daily use. Built for lightweight iteration on small repo. | Key limits
|
| GLM Coding Plan Pro | US$80 per user | US$56 per user | Frequent use. Built for day-to-day development on mid-sized repo. | Key limits
|
| GLM Coding Plan Max | US$168 per user | US$118 per user | Power use. Built for advanced users working on mid-to-large repo. | Key limits
|
| GLM Coding Plan Team | US$88 per user | US$79 per user | For enterprises and teams, frequent use | Key limits
|
| GLM Coding Plan Team, premium seat | US$188 per user | US$169 per user | For enterprises and teams, power use | Key limits
|
Additional costs
Costs on top of the plan price.
| Cost | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Usage past a Team seat's limits | API list price, 10% off for a limited timeOptional per seat, with spending limits set by an admin | |
| Usage past Lite, Pro or Max limits | Not availableNot sold; use stops until the 5-hour or weekly window resets | |
| Team minimum of 2 seats | US$176 a month on standard seatsBilled for at least 2 seats | |
| Team premium seat | US$188 a month; US$169 paid yearlyPer seat, in place of standard; seat types cannot be mixed | |
| Removing Team seats mid-term | Paid to the end of the termSeats can be added pro rata but not removed until the term ends | |
| Use in your own apps | Standard API ratesPlan quota works only in Z.ai's supported tools; other use goes through the API | |
| Peak-hour usage | 2 times the credits of off-peak useMonday to Friday, 14:00 to 18:00 Singapore time | |
| Renewal price | Not fixedRenews at the price shown on the renewal date, not the price first paid | |
| Sales tax | Rate not statedZ.ai's terms charge applicable taxes without naming sales tax |
API prices
The Z.ai API is billed by use, in US dollars per million tokens, from a prepaid balance, separately from any plan.
| Model | Input | Output | Cached input | Context window | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLM-5.3 | US$1.40 | US$4.40 | US$0.26 | 1M tokens | |
| GLM-4.5-Air | US$0.20 | US$1.10 | US$0.03 | 128K tokens | |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | US$0.15 | US$0.50 | US$0.03 | 1M tokens | |
| GLM-4.7-FlashX | US$0.07 | US$0.40 | US$0.01 | 200K tokens |
Z.ai cost calculator
Enter how many people need Z.ai, any Team overage, and any API use to price every plan. Estimates in US dollars, excluding sales tax.
How many people in each role will use AI?
For example, General office: 10 people. 12 people in total.
- General officeEmail, writing, summaries and researchpeople
- Content and marketingDrafting, editing and campaignspeople
- Software developmentCoding assistants, reviews and debuggingpeople
- Customer supportReplies and ticket summariespeople
- Finance and analysisSpreadsheets, reports and documentspeople
Do you also want AI to do jobs automatically?
How many times a month for each job. For example, 300 if you sign about 300 contracts a month.
Writing
- Answer support emailsa month
- Summarise email threadsa month
- Answer questions from your documentsa month
- Summarise contractsa month
- Draft blog posts or newslettersa month
- Review code changesa month
Decisions
- Route support ticketsa month
- Score inbound leadsa month
- Flag invoices for reviewa month
- Check documents against a policya month
Estimated cost
US$1,056a month
GLM Coding Plan Team: 12 people
- Per year, billed monthly
- US$12,672
- Per year, billed annually
- US$11,405Saves US$1,267
- Seats
- US$1,056
How we worked it out
- General office staff use AI in short bursts, so a standard seat covers them.
- Content and marketing staff use AI through the day, within a standard seat's limits.
Estimated, USD, excluding sales tax.
What Z.ai costs by company size
Estimated cost by number of employees, assuming every employee gets a seat, on the cheapest plan that fits each end of the band.
| Employees | Plans | Monthly cost | Annual cost | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 to 10 | Z.ai Free to GLM Coding Plan Team | US$0 to US$880 | US$0 | to | US$880 | US$0 to US$10,560 | US$0 | to | US$10,560 | |||
| 11 to 50 | GLM Coding Plan Team | US$968 to US$4,400 | US$968 | to | US$4,400 | US$11,616 to US$52,800 | US$11,616 | to | US$52,800 | |||
| 51 to 200 | GLM Coding Plan Team | US$4,488 to US$17,600 | US$4,488 | to | US$17,600 | US$53,856 to US$211,200 | US$53,856 | to | US$211,200 | |||
| 201 to 500 | GLM Coding Plan Team | US$17,688 to US$44,000 | US$17,688 | to | US$44,000 | US$212,256 to US$528,000 | US$212,256 | to | US$528,000 | |||
Z.ai discount codes and offers
Current Z.ai offers in the US, checked 18 October 2026.
-
Pay quarterly
20% off: Pro US$64 a month instead of US$80
Lite, Pro and Max; billed every 3 months
-
Pay yearly
30% off: Pro US$56 a month instead of US$80
30% off Lite, Pro and Max, 10% off Team seats; billed once a year
-
Invite link discount
10% off the first GLM Coding Plan order
Through an existing user's invite link
New users with no paid subscription, paying within 72 hours; not renewals or upgrades
How to negotiate Z.ai's price
Ranked by confidence of the biggest return.
| Rank | Lever | How it works | What it can save |
|---|---|---|---|
| [01] | Pay yearly on an individual plan | Lite, Pro and Max are 30% off paid yearly. Pro drops from US$80 to US$56 a month. | US$288 a year on Pro |
| [02] | Pay quarterly if a year is too long | Quarterly billing is 20% off. Pro drops from US$80 to US$64 a month. | US$192 a year on Pro |
| [03] | Pay yearly on Team | Team seats are 10% off paid yearly. A standard seat drops from US$88 to US$79 a month. | US$106 a standard seat a year |
| [04] | Start a new account through an invite link | A first GLM Coding Plan order bought through an invite link within 72 hours is 10% off. | Up to US$141 on a year of Max |
| [05] | Choose Team seat type with care | Standard and premium seats cannot be mixed, and standard cannot be upgraded to premium. Premium is US$100 more a seat a month. | US$100 a seat a month on standard |
| [06] | Add Team seats only as needed | Seats can be added mid-term pro rata but cannot be removed until the term ends, so start small and add. | US$1,056 a standard seat a year, paid monthly |
| [07] | Work outside peak hours | Off-peak use costs half the credits. Peak is Monday to Friday, 14:00 to 18:00 Singapore time. | Half the credits for the same work |
| [08] | Set overage limits per Team member | Team overage is billed at API list price, and an admin can set a spending limit for each member. | All overage past the limits you set |
Z.ai price history
Z.ai's API list prices over the last two years, in US dollars per million tokens. The GLM Coding Plan's own price changes, the same in every country, are in the questions below.
API prices
Z.ai's API price over the same two years, one line per model family, in US dollars per million tokens. Each point is the blended price, 70% input and 30% output; hover for each launch and change.
Z.ai alternatives
Other tools in our price guides for the US, largest first by market share.
| Vendor | Starting price | Pricing model | Key difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Free plan; paid from US$8 a user a month (ChatGPT Go) | Per person for one user, per seat for teams, plus usage credits | Credits for use past Business limits | Price guides |
| Gemini | Free plan; paid from US$4.99 a user a month (Google AI Plus) | Per person on Google AI plans, per user in Google Workspace, plus AI credit top-ups | Business use comes through Workspace | Price guides |
| Claude | Free plan; paid from US$20 a user a month (Claude Pro) | Per person for one user, per seat for teams, plus usage at API rates | Use past plan limits billed at API rates | Price guides |
| Meta AI | Free plan; paid from US$7.99 a user a month (Meta One Core) | Free for everyday use, per person for Core and Premium, per profile for business plans, plus API usage | Free assistant, with paid Meta One bundles per person or per business profile | Price guides |
| Grok | Free plan; paid from US$8 a user a month (Grok Plus) | Per person for one user, per seat for teams, plus prepaid usage credit | Use past plan limits is prepaid credit | Price guides |
| DeepSeek | Pay as you go API, per million tokens | Pay as you go, per million tokens, half price off-peak | Half price off-peak | Price guides |
| Mistral Vibe | Free plan; paid from US$15 a user a month (Mistral Vibe Pro) | Per person for one user, per seat for teams, plus usage at API rates | Per person or per seat in US dollars before tax, with API usage in the same plan | Price guides |
| Qwen | US$8 a user a month (Qwen Token Plan Lite) | Per person for one developer, per seat for teams, plus API usage per token | Per person or per seat in US dollars on monthly Credits quotas, plus API usage per token | Price guides |
| Kimi | Free plan; paid from US$19 a user a month (Kimi Plus) | Per person for one user, per seat for teams, paid yearly, plus usage top-ups | Per person or per seat in US dollars, Business paid yearly, plus top-ups at about API rates | Price guides |
| MiniMax | Free plan; paid from US$22 a user a month (MiniMax M Plan Go) | Per person for one user, no team plan, plus credit packs past plan limits | Per person in US dollars before tax, no team plan, plus credit packs past plan limits | Price guides |
| Jev | Pay as you go API, per million tokens | Pay as you go, per input token, output free | API only, per billion input tokens in US dollars, output free | Price guides |
Z.ai pricing questions
Z.ai's free tier costs nothing. The GLM Coding Plan is US$18 a month for Lite, US$80 for Pro and US$168 for Max, all before tax. Team is US$88 a seat a month for standard seats and US$188 for premium, with at least 2 seats.
No. Lite, Pro and Max are licensed to one natural person, and Z.ai's terms forbid letting colleagues or any organisation use the quota. Team is the plan for businesses, from 2 seats with no upper limit. Plan quota also works only inside Z.ai's supported coding and agent tools, not for API calls from your own apps.
Z.ai's terms say it charges the fees and any taxes, without naming sales tax or saying which states it collects in. Its prices are shown before tax, in US dollars.
Yes. Lite, Pro and Max are 20% off paid quarterly and 30% off paid yearly: Pro is US$64 a month quarterly and US$672 a year. Team seats are 10% off paid yearly. Subscriptions renew automatically and are non-refundable.
Usage is metered in credits per 5 hours and per week. On Lite, Pro and Max, calls stop until the window resets and the account balance is not charged. On Team, an admin can switch on paid overage per seat at the API list price, with a spending limit for each member.
The API is priced per million tokens in US dollars. GLM-5.3 costs US$1.40 for input and US$4.40 for output; GLM-5.3-Flash costs US$0.15 and US$0.50. GLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.5-Flash and GLM-4.6V-Flash are free.
Yes, several times. In US dollars, Lite rose from US$6 a month in November 2025 to US$10 in February 2026 and US$18 in April. Pro went from US$30 to US$72 in April and US$80 on 30 July 2026, and Max from US$60 to US$80, US$160 and then US$168. Team seats have been US$88 and US$188 since 30 July 2026; earlier Team prices were not found.
Z.ai pricing sources and methodology
From z.ai/subscribe on 18 October 2026 and Z.ai's docs and terms. The page showed the same US dollar prices to visitors from the UK, the US, Canada and Singapore. Prices are in US dollars, and the terms charge applicable taxes without naming sales tax, so prices here exclude sales tax. Annual per month is each yearly price divided by 12. This page covers Z.ai's international platform, run from Singapore.
Estimates from list prices, excluding sales tax, calculated in US dollars. Lite, Pro and Max are licensed to one person, so two or more people are priced on Team, which bills at least 2 seats. Team overage is added at the API list price, without the limited-time 10% discount. API tokens are priced on the chosen model from Ensurva's AI price guides; no plan includes API credits. Company size assumes every employee gets a seat.
The API table comes from the same data as Ensurva's AI price guides, read from Z.ai's own pricing pages, in US dollars per million tokens.
The chart shows Z.ai's API prices, from the same data as Ensurva's AI price guides. The GLM Coding Plan's price history is not charted for United States. The plan price changes in the questions above are US dollar list prices, monthly, before tax, from archived copies of z.ai/subscribe and the live page; the February 2026 prices come from a Chinese tech news report (landian.news) and the April 2026 rise is dated from third-party reports.
Drawn from how Z.ai charges, not from records of negotiated deals.
Not shown. Public comments on Z.ai's pricing from people in the US have not been collected yet.
Checked monthly against Z.ai's own pages.
The calculator's By use case tab puts each person on a seat that suits how heavily their role uses AI. Software developers use it most, about 15% of their working hours against about 6% across all workers (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, 2026), so they get the heavier seat where the plan has one. Content, support and finance staff fit a standard seat, and general office staff use AI least. Each automated job is priced at a typical size, about 100 tokens to 75 words: a support reply reads about 1,100 words and writes 200, and a contract summary reads 10,000 and writes 750. Decision jobs read the record and give a short typed answer: about 600 words to route a support ticket, 4,500 to check a document against a policy. Those sizes are Ensurva's own estimates. A model that writes no text, such as Jev, is priced on decision jobs only. Jobs are priced as API use on the vendor's default model, less any API credits the plan includes.
- GLM Coding Plan 18 Oct 2026
- Z.ai API pricing 18 Oct 2026
- GLM Coding Plan overview 18 Oct 2026
- Team Plan Benefits 18 Oct 2026
- GLM Coding Plan FAQ 18 Oct 2026
- Plan update announcement, 30 July 2026 16 Oct 2026
- Legacy plan migration notice, 21 April 2026 16 Oct 2026
- Subscriptions, Fees, and Payment 18 Oct 2026
- Terms of Use 18 Oct 2026
- Invite Friends, Get Credits rules 18 Oct 2026
- Z.ai help FAQ 18 Oct 2026
- GLM Coding Plan, archived November 2025 16 Oct 2026
- GLM Coding Plan, archived March 2026 16 Oct 2026
- GLM Coding Plan, archived May 2026 16 Oct 2026
- GLM Coding Plan, archived August 2026 16 Oct 2026
- Landian News on the February 2026 price change 16 Oct 2026
- Cline docs on launch prices 16 Oct 2026
- Binance Square on the April 2026 increase 16 Oct 2026
- zenn.dev summary of 2026 changes 16 Oct 2026
Prices are estimates from Z.ai's published list prices on the date shown. Check z.ai before buying.