Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime API Pricing
Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime costs $2.80 per 1M input tokens and $8.80 per 1M output tokens (cache reads: $0.560). Context window: 1M. Prices verified 2026-10-21 · source
Alternatives to consider
Cheapest z-ai model — 98% less per month
Rebuilt daily from our snapshot archive — the chart appears once a model has 5+ snapshots of history.
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Token economics
| Token type | Price | vs base input |
|---|---|---|
| Standard input | $2.80 | — |
| Cache read | $0.560 | −80% |
| Output | $8.80 | — |
Prompt caching stores repeated context server-side: reads cost far less, but writes carry a one-time premium.
Higher effort = deeper thinking = more reasoning tokens billed as output.
What would Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime cost you per month?
| Workload | Requests/mo | Avg tokens (in/out) | Est. monthly cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light chatbot | 10,000 | 800 / 400 | $57.60 |
| Coding agent | 5,000 | 8,000 / 2,000 | $200.00 |
| RAG pipeline | 30,000 | 4,000 / 500 | $468.00 |
| Doc summarizer | 2,000 | 20,000 / 1,000 | $129.60 |
Estimates use list prices without prompt caching. Caching can cut input cost by up to 90% on repeated context.
About Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime
GLM-5.3-Prime is the high-speed variant of Z.ai's GLM-5.3, inheriting its full capabilities while delivering 1.5–2× the output throughput through inference acceleration. It supports text input and output with a 1M-token...
Compare Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime with
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Popular head-to-heads — see all on the comparisons index.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime cost?
Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime costs $2.80 per 1M input tokens and $8.80 per 1M output tokens; cached input tokens cost $0.560 per 1M. Verified 2026-10-21 — provider source.
What is the context window?
1M tokens, with up to 131K output tokens per response. That's roughly 1250 pages of text in a single request.
Does it support prompt caching?
Yes — cached input is $0.560/1M, about 80% cheaper than standard input. Agents and RAG workloads with repeated context benefit most.
What's a cheaper alternative?
ScaleDown: Summarize saves about 99% on a typical workload with comparable quality.
Official resources
- Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime on OpenRouter — live endpoint, pricing source of record.
- Artificial Analysis leaderboard → — independent intelligence and performance rankings.
- Shred your current bill — paste a CSV and see if switching saves money.