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Z.ai vs Particle.AI
Particle and Z.ai sell GLM 5.3 Flash at the same $0.15 in and $0.50 out. Z.ai adds the full GLM-5.3 and its coding plan.
By The Subconscious Team · Updated
Z.ai vs Particle.AI: key differences
The same model shows up on both price lists. Z.ai sells GLM-5.3-Flash at $0.15 in and $0.50 out, and Particle.AI charges the same on its own API, with 1M context and cache reads at $0.03 per million. On list price they tie. Z.ai also offers the full GLM-5.3 at $1.40 in and $4.40 out, free older Flash models and the GLM Coding Plan from $18 a month. Particle's catalog is tiny, adding only Particle-1 and DeepSeek V4.1 Flash.
Particle's case is access and routing. It sits inside Vercel AI Gateway, so a team can try it with no new contract and use it as a fallback or price-optimized route next to other providers. Z.ai's servers sit mostly in China, adding 100 to 200ms from the US or Europe and raising data concerns for some enterprises. Particle is very early, with little public track record, and some of its listings trail faster hosts on latency. Worth testing both on the same GLM Flash workload.
What Z.ai and Particle.AI 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, a 320B multimodal model with 18B active, costs $0.15 in and $0.50 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
Particle.AI
Particle AI is an early San Francisco infrastructure startup with a mission to make intelligence as cheap and abundant as electricity. The team works on post-training, inference optimization and distributed systems, all aimed at pushing down cost per unit of intelligence. It is still hiring its founding team and works fully in person. Mixpanel founder Suhail Doshi started it, with backing from Y Combinator, 8VC, Caffeinated Capital and angels including Patrick Collison, Adam D'Angelo and Aaron Levie.
Example models: Particle-1, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3 Flash
Full Particle.AI profileShould you choose Z.ai or Particle.AI?
Z.ai
Choose Z.ai for
- Buying GLM-5.3-Flash direct from the model maker
- Access to full GLM-5.3 and the coding plan
- Free older Flash models
Particle.AI
Choose Particle.AI for
- GLM and DeepSeek Flash models through an existing Vercel AI Gateway setup
- A fallback route for GLM Flash traffic
- 1M context with $0.03 cache reads
Z.ai vs Particle.AI at a glance
| Attribute | Z.ai |  Particle.AI |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights (GLM-5.3 License; MIT on Flash and older) | Open weights plus its own Particle-1 tune |
| Flagship models | GLM-5.3, GLM-5.3-Flash | Particle-1, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Speed | ~80 tok/s on GLM-5.3 | ~110 tok/s on Particle-1 (Vercel AI Gateway) |
| Price | $1.40 in, $4.40 out (GLM-5.3); free Flash tier | $0.15 in, $0.50 out (GLM 5.3 Flash); $0.25 in, $1 out (Particle-1) |
| Customization | Open weights; GLM-5.3 License adds review for large hosts | Unknown |
| Deployment | API, GLM Coding Plan | Serverless API, Vercel AI Gateway |
| Long context | 1M (GLM-5.3) | 1M |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Z.ai and Particle.AI?
Particle and Z.ai sell GLM 5.3 Flash at the same $0.15 in and $0.50 out. Z.ai adds the full GLM-5.3 and its coding plan.
When should I choose Z.ai over Particle.AI?
Buying GLM-5.3-Flash direct from the model maker; Access to full GLM-5.3 and the coding plan; Free older Flash models.
When should I choose Particle.AI over Z.ai?
GLM and DeepSeek Flash models through an existing Vercel AI Gateway setup; A fallback route for GLM Flash traffic; 1M context with $0.03 cache reads.
Is Z.ai or Particle.AI cheaper?
Z.ai: $1.40 in, $4.40 out (GLM-5.3); free Flash tier. Particle.AI: $0.15 in, $0.50 out (GLM 5.3 Flash); $0.25 in, $1 out (Particle-1). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.
Which has more context, Z.ai or Particle.AI?
Z.ai: 1M (GLM-5.3). Particle.AI: 1M.
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