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Z.ai vs Relace
Relace makes apply, search and compaction models that support a main coding model. Paired with low-cost GLM, it handles the utility work in an agent loop.
By The Subconscious Team · Updated
Z.ai vs Relace: key differences
Relace argues that small specialized models beat frontier LLMs on utility tasks inside a coding agent, and GLM is a natural main model to pair them with. Z.ai's GLM-5.3 costs $1.40 in and $4.40 out and runs in Claude Code through an Anthropic compatible endpoint. Relace's relace-apply-3 merges a lazy edit snippet from that model into the original file at about 10,000 tokens per second, with 128K tokens of input and output. Its agentic search explores large codebases in parallel, and a compaction model runs at 50,000 tokens per second.
The two differ on deployment and data. Relace offers self-hosted deployment with guided onboarding, which suits enterprises that keep code in-house. Z.ai's servers sit mostly in China, which raises data concerns, but GLM's open weights can be self-hosted too, so a team could keep both the main model and the utility models inside its own walls. Relace hosts GLM 5.3, GLM 5.3 Flash and GLM 5.2 among a few open models, and its apply model errors past 128K tokens. GLM covers the reasoning and code writing that Relace does not attempt.
What Z.ai and Relace 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 profileRelace
Relace started out training small, fast models that act as tools for coding agents, and by October 2026 its homepage led with open-model inference instead. It says it served 30 trillion tokens in the 30 days to late October and ranks among the top providers on OpenRouter. The hosted catalog covers DeepSeek V4 Pro, V4 Flash and V4.1 Flash, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3, GLM 5.3 Flash and GLM 5.2 over OpenAI and Anthropic compatible APIs, billed per token with no subscription. Prices run from $0.07 in and $0.14 out per million tokens on DeepSeek V4 Flash to $2.00 in and $14.00 out on Kimi K3, and Relace says it reprices often.
Example models: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3, relace-apply-3
Full Relace profileShould you choose Z.ai or Relace?
Z.ai vs Relace at a glance
| Attribute | Z.ai | Relace |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights (GLM-5.3 License; MIT on Flash and older) | Open weights, plus specialist coding models |
| Flagship models | GLM-5.3, GLM-5.3-Flash | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Kimi K3, GLM 5.3, relace-apply-3 |
| Speed | ~80 tok/s on GLM-5.3 | ~10,000 tok/s apply |
| Price | $1.40 in, $4.40 out (GLM-5.3); free Flash tier | $0.07 in, $0.50 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash) |
| Customization | Open weights; GLM-5.3 License adds review for large hosts | Unknown |
| Deployment | API, GLM Coding Plan | Hosted API, OpenRouter or self-hosted |
| Long context | 1M (GLM-5.3) | 128K on apply; varies by open model |
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Z.ai and Relace?
Relace makes apply, search and compaction models that support a main coding model. Paired with low-cost GLM, it handles the utility work in an agent loop.
When should I choose Z.ai over Relace?
The main model that writes code in a budget agent; Self-hosting a coding model with open weights; Flat-rate use in Claude Code.
When should I choose Relace over Z.ai?
Fast merges of GLM's edit snippets; Parallel search across large repos; Self-hosted utility models for in-house code.
Is Z.ai or Relace cheaper?
Z.ai: $1.40 in, $4.40 out (GLM-5.3); free Flash tier. Relace: $0.07 in, $0.50 out (DeepSeek V4.1 Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.
Which has more context, Z.ai or Relace?
Z.ai: 1M (GLM-5.3). Relace: 128K on apply; varies by open model.
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