# Z.ai — models, pricing & selection | Y-API

> Z.ai’s GLM 5 family on Y-API has three entries: GLM 5.2 and GLM 5.3 share a million-token text window with different post-training, while GLM 5.3 Flash is a separately trained multimodal base combining sparse and linear attention.

This is the markdown representation of https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/models/z-ai. Generated by `scripts/generate-seo-assets.mjs` from the same copy the page renders — do not edit by hand.

Vendor scope: 3 reviewed models.

Sources reviewed: 2026-10-04. Y-API catalog snapshot: 2026-10-04.

## About this vendor

Vendor-level selection advice by Y-API. The per-model pages linked below carry the model-specific checks; nothing here is a measured comparison.

### Where this vendor fits

The GLM entries form the mid-tier of this catalog: roughly an order of magnitude cheaper than Claude Opus 5 or GPT-5.6 Sol at the output end, and roughly ten times the Flash tier — the region where sustained coding workloads usually settle.

### What to watch for

The 5.2 → 5.3 pair shares a base, so behavior differences are real but not rankable in the abstract, and GLM 5.3’s always-on reasoning means output budgets must include thinking tokens. Flash is a different model, not a pricing switch on 5.3.

## Models on Y-API

Prices are account-credit snapshots from the Y-API catalog. Each model links to its own guide with a cost estimator and a request example.

| Model | Context window | Input / 1M tokens | Output / 1M tokens |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [GLM 5.2](https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/models/z-ai/glm-5.2) | 1,048,576 | $1.40 | $4.40 |
| [GLM 5.3](https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/models/z-ai/glm-5.3) | 1,048,576 | $1.40 | $5.00 |
| [GLM 5.3 Flash](https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/models/z-ai/glm-5.3-flash) | 1,048,576 | $0.15 | $0.50 |

$1 paid adds $10 of credit; the cash equivalent is credit consumed ÷ 10. These are Y-API prices, not the publisher’s list prices.

## Choosing within the lineup

Try GLM 5.3 Flash first on multimodal or cost-sensitive coding tasks; use GLM 5.2 when a text-only entry without forced reasoning matters; compare GLM 5.3 against 5.2 on your own repository tasks before paying its premium.

## Before you choose

### Are GLM 5.2 and GLM 5.3 interchangeable?

No. Z.ai describes 5.3 as the same base model with revised post-training and always-on reasoning, which changes both behavior and billed output. Treat them as separate candidates and record the tested ID in your evaluations.

## Sources & scope

Vendor scope on this site is exactly the reviewed model guides listed above; a vendor page exists only while at least one of its models is reviewed. Claims about architecture or positioning follow the cited pages. We do not publish measured latency, uptime or benchmark scores for any vendor.

- [OpenRouter vendor page](https://openrouter.ai/z-ai)
- [Publisher organization on Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/zai-org)
- [Y-API catalog & prices (JSON)](https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/models.json)

## Links

- HTML version of this page: https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/models/z-ai
- Site index for agents: https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/llms.txt
- Full reference (single file): https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/llms-full.txt
- OpenAPI 3.1 spec: https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/openapi.json
- Model catalog (JSON, no key needed): https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/models.json
- API base URL: `https://api.y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/v1`
- Contact: support@bestvirtualgoods.com
- Model catalog: https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/models
- Integration guide: https://y-api.bestvirtualgoods.com/docs