Zhipu Qingyan 智谱清言 (ChatGLM)
GLM-powered chat assistant with a fast-growing global coding API
Overview
Zhipu Qingyan (智谱清言) is Zhipu AI's consumer assistant, built on the GLM model family, covering chat, long-form writing, coding, search, image generation and document reading. The same GLM models power Z.ai, Zhipu's increasingly international developer API and coding-agent platform.
Pricing
Pricing shown for reference only. These figures reflect RECATOOLS research as of 12 Jul 2026 and may be out of date or incomplete. This is not financial or purchasing advice — always confirm the current price on the provider’s official website before making any decision.
- GLM-5.2, GLM-5-Turbo, GLM-4.7, GLM-4.5-Air access
- Works with Cursor, Cline and similar tools
- Same model access as Lite, higher usage quota
- Same model access, highest usage quota
What you can produce with Zhipu Qingyan 智谱清言 (ChatGLM)
- Chat, long-form writing, coding and AI search in one assistant
- Image generation and document/PDF reading
- GLM-5.2 (744B MoE, 1M-token context) via the international Z.ai API
- GLM Coding Plan subscription for agentic coding tools (Cursor, Cline, etc.)
- Free-tier access to GLM-4.7-Flash / GLM-4.5-Flash (203K context)
- Web, iOS, Android and desktop apps
ASEAN Perspective
Zhipu Qingyan 智谱清言 (ChatGLM) in Southeast Asia
ASEAN-region availability and pricing notes coming soon. Drop the editorial team a note via /contact/ if you can supply local context (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam).
Zhipu is one of the few Chinese labs treating its international API seriously rather than as an afterthought: GLM-5.2 shipped in June 2026 as a 744B-parameter MoE model with a genuinely usable 1M-token context, open-sourced under MIT, and the GLM Coding Plan undercuts Claude/OpenAI subscription pricing while targeting Claude-Code-class agentic coding work. That's the strongest part of the story.
The consumer Qingyan app itself is Chinese-first — no SEA localization, and membership pricing runs noticeably higher abroad than at home (roughly $18/$72/$160 a month internationally versus about ¥49/¥149/¥469 domestically for the same three tiers). Zhipu has also been raising prices across the board through 2026 as it pushes toward profitability around its Hong Kong listing. Worth using for the GLM API and coding plan; the consumer app is a harder sell for non-Chinese-speaking users.
What people say
Zhipu AI's app store reviews for Qingyan (智谱清言) skew positive on the basics — users describe it as easy to use, with fast responses on both prose and SQL generation, and at least one App Store reviewer described a two-hour session using it for creative writing as close to unsettling in how easy it made the process. On Xiaomi's app store the listing has racked up 984 ratings; as of January 2025 it had roughly 7.02 million monthly active users, putting it 7th among domestic AI products at the time — meaningful but not category-leading against Doubao, Kimi and DeepSeek's chat apps.
The more interesting story in 2026 is on the developer side. Z.ai, Zhipu's international platform, shipped GLM-5.2 on 16 June 2026 — a 744-billion-parameter mixture-of-experts model with a 1-million-token context window, open-sourced on Hugging Face under MIT. SCMP reported Zhipu simultaneously raised prices to narrow the gap with US rivals rather than compete purely on cost, and Bloomberg covered a second hike in April as part of a broader monetization push around Zhipu's Hong Kong listing (the company IPO'd alongside fellow 'Six Little Tigers' member MiniMax). Direct API pricing now runs $1.40 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens, with cached input dropping to $0.26.
The GLM Coding Plan — a subscription aimed at agentic coding tools like Cursor, Cline and Claude Code-style workflows — dropped its promotional $3/month pricing in February 2026; current published tiers are Lite (~$10/month, billed $30/quarter), Pro (~$30/month, $90/quarter) and Max (~$80/month, $240/quarter), with Q2 2026 discounts bringing those down to $27/$81/$216 per quarter. All tiers get GLM-5.2, GLM-5-Turbo, GLM-4.7 and GLM-4.5-Air, with GLM-5.2 pitched as a Claude Opus-class option for complex agent work. Free access exists too: GLM-4.7-Flash and GLM-4.5-Flash are available at no cost to any registered user with 203K context.
Net picture: a capable, actively improving model family with real international developer traction, wrapped around a consumer app that's still built primarily for a Chinese audience and priced noticeably higher when bought through the international App Store than the domestic one.
Summary of public user & expert reviews, compiled by RECATOOLS.
About this listing
This entry was compiled from publicly available data including Zhipu Qingyan 智谱清言 (ChatGLM)'s official website, press releases, documentation, and reputable third-party publications. RECATOOLS is not affiliated with Zhipu Qingyan 智谱清言 (ChatGLM) unless explicitly stated.
Third-party AI tools update their pricing, features, availability, and policies frequently. Information here may be outdated by the time you read this — we make reasonable efforts to keep listings current, but cannot guarantee absolute accuracy.
For the latest details, please refer to Zhipu Qingyan 智谱清言 (ChatGLM) directly →
Spotted something out of date? Suggest an update →
Zhipu Qingyan 智谱清言 (ChatGLM) in the news
Alternatives to Zhipu Qingyan 智谱清言 (ChatGLM)
More in LLMs & Chat
