GLM 4.6V API Pricing
Z.ai (GLM) · context window 131K · prices updated 2026-09-29
Where GLM 4.6V sits on price
At $0.9 per million output tokens, GLM 4.6V is a mid tier model — 2.4× cheaper than the median output price of $2.20, which puts it cheaper than 71% and pricier than 29% of the models we track. It sits 5th cheapest of the 18 Z.ai (GLM) models we track. Output is only 3.0× the input price, an unusually flat spread: long prompts hurt about as much as long answers, so prompt size is where the savings are.
Cached input is 83% cheaper. On an input-heavy workload you need roughly a 30% 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 4.6V
These three workloads are the ones teams actually run on a mid-priced model — a $0.9/1M 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. | $0.0028 | $41.40 |
| Document pipeline — 10K docs/day (3K in / 500 out) Batch-friendly: no user waiting, so a ~50% batch discount usually applies. | $0.0014 | $405 |
| Small app — 1K requests/day (500 in / 150 out) The baseline most side projects actually run at. | $0.0003 | $8.55 |
Model your exact traffic in the API cost calculator — it preloads GLM 4.6V with caching and batch options.
GLM 4.6V price history
GLM 4.6V's price has not moved since we began tracking it on Aug 2, 2026 — 58 days of stability in a market where 88 of the 353 models we track have repriced over the same period, including 10 of Z.ai (GLM)'s own 18 models.
Change-points from our daily price snapshots (tracking since Aug 2, 2026; intraday moves between snapshots are not captured).
GLM 4.6V vs Codestral 2508
The closest-priced alternative from another vendor is Codestral 2508 (Mistral) — priced within a rounding error on output, with identical input pricing. 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 Codestral 2508 pricing →Cheaper alternatives
More Z.ai (GLM) models
Frequently asked questions
› How much does the GLM 4.6V API cost?
GLM 4.6V costs $0.3 per million input tokens and $0.9 per million output tokens, with cached input at $0.05 per million (83% cheaper). That works out to roughly 1,111,111 output tokens per dollar.
› What does the support chatbot workload cost on GLM 4.6V?
Support chatbot — 500 conversations/day (5K in / 1.4K out) costs about $0.0028 per request and $41.40 per month on GLM 4.6V. Conversation history re-sent each turn — the classic prompt-caching win.
› What does it cost to fill GLM 4.6V's 131K context window?
Sending 131K of input in a single request costs $0.0393 at $0.3 per million tokens — before any output. With prompt caching that same fill drops to about $0.0066 on repeat requests. This is why large context windows are cheap to advertise and expensive to actually use.
› Is GLM 4.6V worth the price?
GLM 4.6V sits in the middle of the market (5 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.