chatglm.cn
ChatGLM (chatglm.cn) is Zhipu AI's Chinese chatbot now running the GLM-5 model family. See its 2026 free and paid tiers and real alternatives.
About chatglm.cn
ChatGLM, published at chatglm.cn and also known as Zhipu Qingyan, is a Chinese-language conversational AI chatbot from Zhipu AI (also branded Z.ai internationally), offering chat plus a set of built-in AI tools on top of the company’s GLM model family.
What is ChatGLM (2026 update)
ChatGLM is the consumer-facing chat product built on Zhipu AI’s GLM large language models, aimed primarily at Chinese-language users for everyday conversation, writing help, and general AI assistant tasks. Basic chat features are free after registration, with a paid membership unlocking higher usage frequency on more advanced models, longer context handling, and faster response priority. Underneath the consumer app, Zhipu also sells API access to its GLM models directly to developers, so the same model family powers both the free chatglm.cn website and paid developer integrations.
What is new in 2026
Zhipu released its GLM-5 flagship model in February 2026, a mixture-of-experts model with 744 billion total parameters (40 billion active), a context window up to roughly 202,752 tokens, and training on 28.5 trillion tokens, specialized for agentic engineering and long-horizon tasks. GLM-5.1 followed as an open-source refinement on April 8, 2026, and GLM-5.3 arrived in August 2026 as the new flagship, adding significantly more long-horizon post-training and an estimated 50 percent improvement in coding feel over the prior version. On benchmarks, GLM-5 reached 77.8 percent on SWE-bench Verified and 56.2 to 60.7 percent on Terminal-Bench 2.0, putting it near Claude Opus 4.5 level on coding and reasoning tasks among open-weight models. Zhipu AI itself also listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 8, 2026, becoming the first Chinese AI lab to go public.
Key features
- Free Chinese-language chatbot at chatglm.cn built on the GLM model family
- Paid membership for higher usage frequency, longer context, and priority response speed
- Underlying GLM-5 series models tuned for agentic engineering and long-horizon coding tasks
- Separate developer API access to GLM models, including lower-cost GLM-4.7-Flash and flagship GLM-5.x models
- Dedicated GLM Coding Plan for developers who want a coding-focused subscription
Pricing in 2026
Consumer pricing on chatglm.cn is freemium, while developer API and coding-plan pricing is billed separately and in USD. Exact current consumer membership tiers are best confirmed on the official site since the pricing page is rendered dynamically.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free (consumer) | Free | Basic chat features on chatglm.cn after registration |
| Paid membership (consumer) | starting from roughly ¥19/month, check the official site | Higher frequency access to advanced models, longer context processing, priority response speed |
| Developer API | GLM-4.7-Flash free tier; GLM-5.2 around $1.4 per million input tokens and $4.4 per million output tokens, cache hits about 1/5 price | Direct API access to GLM models for building applications |
| GLM Coding Plan | from $18/month (Lite, Pro, Max tiers) | Coding-focused usage quotas with 5-hour plus weekly rolling periods |
Who should use it
ChatGLM fits Chinese-language users who want a free, capable local chatbot for everyday writing, research, and conversation without going through an international AI provider. Developers who want access to a strong open-weight-lineage model family for agentic coding or long-context tasks, at lower API pricing than many closed-source alternatives, are also a natural fit, particularly through the dedicated GLM Coding Plan.
Limitations and alternatives
ChatGLM’s consumer interface and much of its documentation are oriented around Chinese-language use, which can make it a less natural pick for English-first users compared to global chatbots, and exact current membership pricing should be checked directly on the official site since it is not always exposed in static page content. If you want an English-first general chatbot, ChatGPT or Google Gemini are the direct global equivalents. For developers comparing API pricing and coding-focused plans, DeepSeek offers a similarly priced open-weight-lineage model family out of China, while Anthropic’s Claude models are a common benchmark comparison point for coding and agentic performance.
Frequently asked questions
Is ChatGLM free to use?
Yes, basic chat features on chatglm.cn are free after registration. A paid membership starting from roughly 19 yuan a month unlocks higher usage frequency, longer context, and priority response speed.
What model powers ChatGLM in 2026?
ChatGLM runs on Zhipu AI's GLM model family, with GLM-5 released in February 2026, GLM-5.1 as an open-source refinement in April 2026, and GLM-5.3 as the new flagship announced in August 2026.
Does ChatGLM offer a developer API?
Yes, Zhipu AI sells separate API access to its GLM models, with a free tier on GLM-4.7-Flash and usage-based pricing on flagship models like GLM-5.2, plus a dedicated GLM Coding Plan starting at $18/month.
What are alternatives to ChatGLM?
For an English-first general chatbot, ChatGPT or Google Gemini are direct equivalents. For developers comparing open-weight-lineage models and API pricing, DeepSeek is a similar Chinese alternative, and Anthropic's Claude models are a common benchmark for coding performance.
Information last verified: September 2026.
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