GLM 5.3 API Pricing
Z.ai (GLM) · context window 1M · prices updated 2026-08-23
Where GLM 5.3 sits on price
At $4.40 per million output tokens, GLM 5.3 is a mid tier model — 2.0× the median output price of $2.25, which puts it cheaper than 37% and pricier than 63% of the models we track. It sits 13th cheapest of the 14 Z.ai (GLM) models we track. Output costs 3.1× 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 5.3
These three workloads are the ones teams actually run on a mid-priced model — a $4.40/1M 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. | $0.0132 | $197 |
| Document pipeline — 10K docs/day (3K in / 500 out) Batch-friendly: no user waiting, so a ~50% batch discount usually applies. | $0.0064 | $1920 |
| Long-context analysis — 200 runs/day (250K in / 4K out) Only possible on large-context models; input cost is nearly the whole bill. | $0.3676 | $2206 |
Model your exact traffic in the API cost calculator — it preloads GLM 5.3 with caching and batch options.
GLM 5.3 price history
GLM 5.3's price has not moved since we began tracking it on Aug 21, 2026 — 2 days of stability in a market where 55 of the 302 models we track have repriced over the same period, including 5 of Z.ai (GLM)'s own 14 models.
Change-points from our daily price snapshots (tracking since Aug 21, 2026; intraday moves between snapshots are not captured).
GLM 5.3 vs o4 Mini High
The closest-priced alternative from another vendor is o4 Mini High (OpenAI) — priced within a rounding error on output, with $0.3 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 o4 Mini High pricing →Cheaper alternatives
More Z.ai (GLM) models
Frequently asked questions
› How much does the GLM 5.3 API cost?
GLM 5.3 costs $1.40 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens, with cached input at $0.26 per million (81% cheaper). That works out to roughly 227,273 output tokens per dollar.
› What does the support chatbot workload cost on GLM 5.3?
Support chatbot — 500 conversations/day (5K in / 1.4K out) costs about $0.0132 per request and $197 per month on GLM 5.3. Conversation history re-sent each turn — the classic prompt-caching win.
› What does it cost to fill GLM 5.3's 1M context window?
Sending 1M of input in a single request costs $1.47 at $1.40 per million tokens — before any output. With prompt caching that same fill drops to about $0.2726 on repeat requests. This is why large context windows are cheap to advertise and expensive to actually use.
› Is GLM 5.3 worth the price?
GLM 5.3 sits in the middle of the market (13 of 14 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.