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Together AI vs Z.ai
Z.ai sells its own GLM models, a free Flash tier and a flat-rate coding plan. Together hosts GLM among many open models with training and dedicated capacity.
By The Subconscious Team · Updated
Together AI vs Z.ai: key differences
Z.ai is the lab behind GLM, and its pricing is built for developers. GLM-5.3 costs $1.40 in and $4.40 out, GLM-5.3-Flash runs $0.075 in and $0.25 out, and several older Flash models are free. The GLM Coding Plan starts at $18 a month, and an Anthropic-compatible endpoint lets Claude Code run on GLM with a few environment variables. Together lists GLM 5.2 as a flagship next to Kimi K3, DeepSeek V4 and Qwen 3.8, and has no free tier. Z.ai notes that GLM also runs on Together.
Location and scale separate them. Z.ai's servers sit mostly in China, which adds 100 to 200ms from the US or Europe and raises data concerns for enterprises. Its coding plan quota also burns 2 to 3x faster on premium models during Beijing peak hours. Together offers dedicated deployments, rollout controls, fine-tuning and GPU clusters. GLM's MIT license means you can fine-tune freely on either path. Individual developers on a budget do well with Z.ai's plan. Companies serving GLM in production, especially outside China, fit Together better.
What Together AI and Z.ai do
Together AI
Together AI is the broadest open-model platform in the category. One bill covers per-token serverless inference, batch at up to 50% off, provisioned throughput with a 99% SLA, dedicated deployments, raw GPU clusters, managed fine-tuning and code sandboxes for agents. The text catalog runs past thirty open models, including DeepSeek V4, Kimi K3, GLM 5.2, Qwen 3.8 and MiniMax M3, plus image, video, speech and embedding models. Token prices sit at parity with Fireworks and Baseten.
Example models: Kimi K3, DeepSeek V4 Pro
Full Together AI profileZ.ai
Z.AI is the international brand of Chinese lab Zhipu AI, maker of the GLM models. Its current flagship, GLM-5.3, shipped August 17, 2026 at $1.40 in and $4.40 out per million tokens, with cached input at $0.26. GLM-5.3-Flash costs $0.075 in and $0.25 out, and several older Flash models are priced at zero, a real free tier instead of trial credits. GLM-5, released in February 2026, is a 744B mixture-of-experts model under an MIT license, and at launch it ranked first among open-weight models on the Artificial Analysis index with a record-low hallucination score.
Example models: GLM-5.3, GLM-5.3-Flash
Full Z.ai profileShould you choose Together AI or Z.ai?
Together AI
Choose Together AI for
- Serving GLM in production off Z.ai's China-based servers
- Fine-tuning GLM, then deploying it on dedicated hardware
- Routing between GLM and other open models
Z.ai
Choose Z.ai for
- Flat-rate GLM Coding Plan inside Claude Code
- Free Flash models for prototyping
- First access to the newest GLM release, GLM-5.3
Together AI vs Z.ai at a glance
| Attribute | Together AI | Z.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights | Open weights (MIT) |
| Flagship models | Kimi K3, DeepSeek V4, GLM 5.2, Qwen 3.8 | GLM-5.3, GLM-5.3-Flash |
| Speed | 0.99s TTFT on DeepSeek V4 Pro | ~80 tok/s on GLM-5.3 |
| Price | Parity with Fireworks and Baseten | $1.40 in, $4.40 out (GLM-5.3); free Flash tier |
| Customization | LoRA and full SFT; RL in beta | Open weights, no license limits |
| Deployment | Serverless, dedicated, GPU clusters | API, GLM Coding Plan |
| Long context | 512K on DeepSeek V4 Pro | 1M (GLM-5.3) |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Together AI and Z.ai?
Z.ai sells its own GLM models, a free Flash tier and a flat-rate coding plan. Together hosts GLM among many open models with training and dedicated capacity.
When should I choose Together AI over Z.ai?
Serving GLM in production off Z.ai's China-based servers; Fine-tuning GLM, then deploying it on dedicated hardware; Routing between GLM and other open models.
When should I choose Z.ai over Together AI?
Flat-rate GLM Coding Plan inside Claude Code; Free Flash models for prototyping; First access to the newest GLM release, GLM-5.3.
Is Together AI or Z.ai cheaper?
Together AI: Parity with Fireworks and Baseten. Z.ai: $1.40 in, $4.40 out (GLM-5.3); free Flash tier. The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.
Which has more context, Together AI or Z.ai?
Together AI: 512K on DeepSeek V4 Pro. Z.ai: 1M (GLM-5.3).
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Running long-horizon agents?
If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious. Our inference stack treats a long-horizon trace as the primary workload, so speed, cost, and accuracy hold up deep into the trace.