GLM 4.6 API Pricing
Z.ai (GLM) · context window 205K · prices updated 2026-09-29
Where GLM 4.6 sits on price
At $1.75 per million output tokens, GLM 4.6 is a mid tier model — 1.3× cheaper than the median output price of $2.20, which puts it cheaper than 58% and pricier than 42% of the models we track. It sits 7th cheapest of the 18 Z.ai (GLM) models we track. Output costs 4.1× input, the usual spread — trim both, starting with the answer length.
Cached input is 81% cheaper. On an input-heavy workload you need roughly a 31% cache-hit rate to take 25% off the input line — reachable for chatbots and agents that resend the same system prompt and history.
What real workloads cost on GLM 4.6
These three workloads are the ones teams actually run on a mid-priced model — a $1.75/1M model is not bought for the same job as one ten times the price.
| Workload | Per request | Per month |
|---|---|---|
| Support chatbot — 500 conversations/day (5K in / 1.4K out) Conversation history re-sent each turn — the classic prompt-caching win. | $0.0046 | $69.00 |
| Document pipeline — 10K docs/day (3K in / 500 out) Batch-friendly: no user waiting, so a ~50% batch discount usually applies. | $0.0022 | $650 |
| Small app — 1K requests/day (500 in / 150 out) The baseline most side projects actually run at. | $0.0005 | $14.32 |
Model your exact traffic in the API cost calculator — it preloads GLM 4.6 with caching and batch options.
GLM 4.6 price history
Z.ai (GLM) last cut GLM 4.6's output price on Sep 18, 2026 (-12% per output token), from $0.5/$2.00 to $0.43/$1.75 per 1M in/out. That is one of 11 repricings in the 58 days we have tracked it — worth knowing before you hard-code today's rate into a budget.
| Date | Input /1M | Output /1M | Output change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2, 2026 (tracking began) | $0.5 | $2.00 | — |
| Aug 11, 2026 | $0.55 | $2.20 | +10% |
| Aug 13, 2026 | $0.5 | $2.00 | -9% |
| Aug 14, 2026 | $0.55 | $2.20 | +10% |
| Aug 21, 2026 | $0.5 | $2.00 | -9% |
| Aug 28, 2026 | $0.43 | $1.75 | -12% |
| Sep 3, 2026 | $0.55 | $2.20 | +26% |
| Sep 7, 2026 | $0.43 | $1.75 | -20% |
| Sep 8, 2026 | $0.55 | $2.20 | +26% |
| Sep 9, 2026 | $0.43 | $1.75 | -20% |
| Sep 17, 2026 | $0.5 | $2.00 | +14% |
| Sep 18, 2026 | $0.43 | $1.75 | -12% |
Change-points from our daily price snapshots (tracking since Aug 2, 2026; intraday moves between snapshots are not captured).
GLM 4.6 vs Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20
The closest-priced alternative from another vendor is Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 (Alibaba (Qwen)) — 3% more expensive on output, with $0.13 less per million input tokens. When two models land this close on price, the decision is quality on your own workload, not the price sheet: run 50 real requests through both and compare.
See Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 pricing →Cheaper alternatives
More Z.ai (GLM) models
Frequently asked questions
› How much does the GLM 4.6 API cost?
GLM 4.6 costs $0.43 per million input tokens and $1.75 per million output tokens, with cached input at $0.08 per million (81% cheaper). That works out to roughly 571,429 output tokens per dollar.
› What does the support chatbot workload cost on GLM 4.6?
Support chatbot — 500 conversations/day (5K in / 1.4K out) costs about $0.0046 per request and $69.00 per month on GLM 4.6. Conversation history re-sent each turn — the classic prompt-caching win.
› What does it cost to fill GLM 4.6's 205K context window?
Sending 205K of input in a single request costs $0.0881 at $0.43 per million tokens — before any output. With prompt caching that same fill drops to about $0.0164 on repeat requests. This is why large context windows are cheap to advertise and expensive to actually use.
› Is GLM 4.6 worth the price?
GLM 4.6 sits in the middle of the market (7 of 18 by price within Z.ai (GLM)). The honest test is a routing experiment: send the same 200 real requests to this model and to a tier below, and compare failure rate against the price gap — most teams find a majority of traffic never needed the pricier model.