VentureBeat · Aug 19, 2026 02:00 UTC

GLM-5.3 hits the API at $1.4/$4.4 per million tokens

Summary

After a <a href="https://venturebeat.com/technology/glm-5-3-is-here-with-advanced-cyber-capabilities-and-reportedly-already-found-a-serious-vulnerability-in-cursor">stunning debut last week</a> with cyber capabilities so advanced they reportedly found a previously undetected vulnerability in Cursor, GLM-5.3, the new frontier open source language model from Chinese startup z.ai, has <a href="https://x.com/Zai_org/status/2089816129011098048?s=20">now hit the application programming interface (API)</a> — allowing developers the ability to build atop it and plug it into their agents and applications. Developers who previously subscribed to a GLM Coding Plan are currently limited to the OpenAI Chat Completions-compatible protocol. Z.ai said it plans to make the model's weights openly available, but a precise date and licensing remain to be seen. On the API, the price is unchanged from GLM-5.2: $1.40 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens. Cached input costs $0.26 per million tokens, while Z.ai currently lists cached-input storage as free for a limited time. That means developers can move to the new generation without taking a higher posted per-token rate from Z.ai, even as the company claims substantially stronger coding and long-horizon agent performance. At those rates, GLM-5.3 sits well below several of the highest-end frontier APIs. <table><tbody><tr><td>Model</td><td>Input ($/1M)</td><td>Output ($/1M)</td><td>Total ($/1M)</td><td>Source</td></tr><tr><td>Muse Spark 1.2 Contributor</td><td>$0.10</td><td>$0.20</td><td>$0.30</td><td><a href="https://dev.meta.ai/docs/pricing-rate-limits">Meta</a></td></tr><tr><td>MiMo-V2.5 Flash</td><td>$0.10</td><td>$0.30</td><td>$0.40</td><td><a href="https://platform.xiaomimimo.com/docs/en-US/pricing">Xiaomi</a></td></tr><tr><td>DeepSeek-V4-Flash — off-peak</td><td>$0.22</td><td>$0.66</td><td>$0.88</td><td><a href="https://x.com/deepseek_ai/status/2087864589895798968">DeepSeek</a></td></tr><tr><td>GPT-5.6 Luna</td><td>$0.20</td><td>$1.20</td><td>$1.40</td><td><a href="https://openai.com/index/advancing-the-price-performance-frontier-with-gpt-5-6/">OpenAI</a></td></tr><tr><td>MiniMax-M3</td><td>$0.30</td><td>$1.20</td><td>$1.50</td><td><a href="https://platform.minimax.io/subscribe/token-plan?tab=api-enterprise">MiniMax</a></td></tr><tr><td>LongCat-2.0 — limited-time promo</td><td>$0.30</td><td>$1.20</td><td>$1.50</td><td><a href="https://longcat.chat/platform/docs/APIPayAsYouGo.html">LongCat</a></td></tr><tr><td>DeepSeek-V4-Flash — peak hours</td><td>$0.44</td><td>$1.32</td><td>$1.76</td><td><a href="https://x.com/deepseek_ai/status/2087864589895798968">DeepSeek</a></td></tr><tr><td>MiMo-V2.5</td><td>$0.40</td><td>$2.00</td><td>$2.40</td><td><a href="https://platform.xiaomimimo.com/docs/en-US/pricing">Xiaomi</a></td></tr><tr><td>DeepSeek-V4-Pro — off-peak</td><td>$0.66</td><td>$1.98</td><td>$2.64</td><td><a href="https://x.com/deepseek_ai/status/2087864589895798968">DeepSeek</a></td></tr><tr><td>LongCat-2.0 — standard</td><td>$0.75</td><td>$2.95</td><td>$3.70</td><td><a href="https://longcat.chat/platform/docs/APIPayAsYouGo.html">LongCat</a></td></tr><tr><td>MiMo-V2.5 Pro (≤256K)</td><td>$1.00</td><td>$3.00</td><td>$4.00</td><td><a href="https://platform.xiaomimimo.com/docs/en-US/pricing">Xiaomi</a></td></tr><tr><td>Gemini 3.6 Flash — through Dec. 31, 2026</td><td>$0.75</td><td>$3.75</td><td>$4.50</td><td><a href="https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing">Google</a></td></tr><tr><td>Gemini 3.7 Flash — through Dec. 31, 2026</td><td>$0.75</td><td>$3.75</td><td>$4.50</td><td><a href="https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing">Google</a></td></tr><tr><td>DeepSeek-V4-Pro — peak hours</td><td>$1.32</td><td>$3.96</td><td>$5.28</td><td><a href="https://x.com/deepseek_ai/status/2087864589895798968">DeepSeek</a></td></tr><tr><td>Muse Spark 1.1 / 1.2</td><td>$1.25</td><td>$4.25</td><td>$5.50</td><td><a href="https://dev.meta.ai/docs/pricing-rate-limits">Meta</a></td></tr><tr><td>GLM-5.3</td><td>$1.40</td><td>$4.40</td><td>$5.80</td><td><a href="https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing">Z.AI</a></td></tr><tr><td>Grok 4.6 — <200K prompt tokens</td><td>$2.00</td><td>$6.00</td><td>$8.00</td><td><a href="https://docs.x.ai/developers/models/grok-4.6">xAI</a></td></tr><tr><td>MiMo-V2.5 Pro (>256K)</td><td>$2.00</td><td>$6.00</td><td>$8.00</td><td><a href="https://platform.xiaomimimo.com/docs/en-US/pricing">Xiaomi</a></td></tr><tr><td>Qwen3.8-Max</td><td>$2.00</td><td>$6.00</td><td>$8.00</td><td><a href="https://www.qwencloud.com/models/qwen3.8-max">QwenCloud</a></td></tr><tr><td>Gemini 3.6 Flash — starting Jan. 1, 2027</td><td>$1.50</td><td>$7.50</td><td>$9.00</td><td><a href="https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing">Google</a></td></tr><tr><td>Gemini 3.7 Flash — starting Jan. 1, 2027</td><td>$1.50</td><td>$7.50</td><td>$9.00</td><td><a href="https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing">Google</a></td></tr><tr><td>GPT-5.6 Terra</td><td>$2.00</td><td>$12.00</td><td>$14.00</td><td><a href="https://openai.com/index/advancing-the-price-performance-frontier-with-gpt-5-6/">OpenAI</a></td></tr><tr><td>Grok 4.6 — ≥200K prompt tokens</td><td>$4.00</td><td>$12.00</td><td>$16.00</td><td><a href="https://docs.x.ai/developers/models/grok-4.6">xAI</a></td></tr><tr><td>GPT-5.4</td><td>$2.50</td><td>$15.00</td><td>$17.50</td><td><a href="https://openai.com/api/pricing/">OpenAI</a></td></tr><tr><td>Kimi K3</td><td>$3.00</td><td>$15.00</td><td>$18.00</td><td><a href="https://platform.kimi.ai/docs/pricing/chat-k3">Moonshot AI</a></td></tr><tr><td>Claude Opus 5</td><td>$5.00</td><td>$25.00</td><td>$30.00</td><td><a href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing">Anthropic</a></td></tr><tr><td>Sakana Fugu Ultra (≤272K)</td><td>$5.00</td><td>$30.00</td><td>$35.00</td><td><a href="https://console.sakana.ai/pricing#subscription-plan">Sakana AI</a></td></tr><tr><td>GPT-5.6 Sol — Standard mode</td><td>$5.00</td><td>$30.00</td><td>$35.00</td><td><a href="https://openai.com/index/advancing-the-price-performance-frontier-with-gpt-5-6/">OpenAI</a></td></tr><tr><td>Claude Fable 5 / Claude Mythos 5</td><td>$10.00</td><td>$50.00</td><td>$60.00</td><td><a href="https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/models/overview">Anthropic</a></td></tr><tr><td>GPT-5.6 Sol — Fast mode</td><td>$10.00</td><td>$60.00</td><td>$70.00</td><td><a href="https://openai.com/index/advancing-the-price-performance-frontier-with-gpt-5-6/">OpenAI</a></td></tr></tbody></table>Using the simple VentureBeat comparison of one million input tokens plus one million output tokens, GLM-5.3 comes to $5.80, versus $8 for <a href="https://venturebeat.com/technology/spacexai-debuts-grok-4-6-overtaking-kimi-k3s-performance-and-matching-gpt-5-6-sol-for-worlds-third-best-on-artificial-analysis">Grok 4.6 </a>at its lower context rate, $18 for<a href="https://venturebeat.com/technology/kimi-k3s-full-weights-are-here-but-theyre-open-with-a-caveat-what-enterprises-should-know"> Kimi K3,</a> $30 for <a href="https://venturebeat.com/orchestration/anthropic-launches-claude-opus-5-a-cheaper-ai-model-for-coding-agents-and-enterprise-workflows">Claude Opus 5</a> and $35 for <a href="https://venturebeat.com/technology/openai-unveils-gpt-5-6-sol-terra-and-luna-models-but-only-accessible-to-limited-preview-partners-for-now-per-us-gov">GPT-5.6 Sol</a>. That is not a workload-cost estimate — real bills depend heavily on the input/output mix, caching and token consumption — but it makes the relative API price tier easy to see.GLM-5.3 is not the cheapest capable model available. Google’s current introductory price for Gemini 3.7 Flash is $0.75 per million input tokens and $3.75 per million output tokens through Dec. 31, 2026, while OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 Luna is priced at $0.20 input and $1.20 output. Still, Z.ai’s price puts GLM-5.3 into a notably lower cost band than the premium frontier models it is increasingly benchmarked against.That comparison has become more relevant following the latest independent results. <a href="https://x.com/ArtificialAnlys/status/2089830890709135426/photo/1">Artificial Analysis gives GLM-5.3 a score of 60 on its Intelligence Index</a>, tying Kimi K3 as the top performing open weights model in the world, and scoring seven points higher than GLM-5.2. Its analysis also estimates GLM-5.3 at about $0.68 per Intelligence Index task, versus roughly $0.44 for GLM-5.2, despite the identical API token prices.The difference underscores an important caveat in headline API pricing: Artificial Analysis found GLM-5.3 more verbose than its predecessor, so flat per-token rates do not necessarily mean flat costs for a completed workload.For developers, though, the immediate change is straightforward: GLM-5.3 is now callable through Z.ai’s API at the same $1.40/$4.40 per-million-token rate as GLM-5.2, giving teams another relatively low-cost option for testing frontier-class coding and agent workloads.

Original reporting

Open original source

Related coverage

Read full article on VentureBeat