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Z.ai vs Dolphin
Z.ai sells its own GLM models with a free Flash tier and a coding plan. Dolphin serves one cheap open model on a decentralized network.
By The Subconscious Team · Updated
Z.ai vs Dolphin: key differences
Z.ai's GLM-5.3 costs $1.40 in and $4.40 out with 1M context, older Flash models are free, and the $18 GLM Coding Plan plugs into Claude Code. Servers sit mostly in China. Dolphin's API launched in October 2026 with one model, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, at $0.01 in and $0.07 out per million tokens, served on idle consumer GPUs across a decentralized network. It publishes no speed, context or SLA, and signup runs through a crypto wallet and Telegram.
Z.ai fits coding agents and teams that want open weights and published context and speed. Dolphin fits cheap, latency-tolerant calls and products that need uncensored models.
What Z.ai and Dolphin do
Z.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. Its weights came out August 28 under a custom GLM-5.3 License that requires a security review for hosts with more than $10B in yearly revenue. 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 profile
Dolphin
Dolphin began in 2023 as Eric Hartford's series of open-source, uncensored fine-tunes, trained to drop the refusals and baked-in guidelines of their base models so that the developer sets the rules through the system prompt. Current releases include Dolphin Llama 3.1 8B and Dolphin Mistral 24B Venice Edition, built with Venice, and the project publishes nearly 100 models on Hugging Face. It also runs a chat app, a Telegram bot and a synthetic data service that generates answers to commonly refused prompts.
Example models: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Dolphin Mistral 24B
Full Dolphin profileShould you choose Z.ai or Dolphin?
Z.ai vs Dolphin at a glance
| Attribute | Z.ai |  Dolphin |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights (GLM-5.3 License; MIT on Flash and older) | Open weights, uncensored fine-tunes |
| Flagship models | GLM-5.3, GLM-5.3-Flash | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Dolphin Mistral 24B |
| Speed | ~80 tok/s on GLM-5.3 | Unknown |
| Price | $1.40 in, $4.40 out (GLM-5.3); free Flash tier | $0.01 in, $0.07 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash) |
| Customization | Open weights; GLM-5.3 License adds review for large hosts | Own uncensored fine-tunes |
| Deployment | API, GLM Coding Plan | Decentralized serverless API |
| Long context | 1M (GLM-5.3) | Unknown |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Z.ai and Dolphin?
Z.ai sells its own GLM models with a free Flash tier and a coding plan. Dolphin serves one cheap open model on a decentralized network.
When should I choose Z.ai over Dolphin?
Cheap Claude Code use via the Coding Plan; Open weights; A free Flash tier.
When should I choose Dolphin over Z.ai?
Very low prices on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash; Cheap background or batch calls; Models without vendor-imposed refusals.
Is Z.ai or Dolphin cheaper?
Z.ai: $1.40 in, $4.40 out (GLM-5.3); free Flash tier. Dolphin: $0.01 in, $0.07 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.
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