The company’s second price increase this year signals a push to monetise advanced AI models while keeping costs below US peers
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenMinxiao ChangPublished: 9:00pm, 8 Apr 2026Chinese artificial intelligence company Zhipu AI open-sourced its latest flagship model, GLM-5.1, on Wednesday while raising application programming interface prices by 10 per cent, signalling a shift towards monetising advanced AI capabilities as competition with US rivals intensifies.The move marked Zhipu’s second price increase this year, following a broader overhaul in February that lifted rates for its coding subscription plans by more than 30 per cent. While the latest adjustment was more modest, it applied across multiple billing categories, including cloud-based input tokens, indicating a more comprehensive recalibration of its pricing strategy.The combination of open-sourcing its flagship model and raising prices sent Zhipu’s Hong Kong-listed shares up 11.5 per cent on Wednesday.
GLM-5.1 is now priced closer to its US counterparts, though a big gap remains. Zhipu charges US$1.40 per million input tokens and about US$4.40 per million output tokens, while Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.6 cost US$5 per million input tokens and US$25 per million output tokens as of February 2026.
Benchmarking firm Artificial Analysis ranked GLM-5.1 as the strongest open model globally based on overall intelligence, ahead of domestic rivals such as MiniMax, though still behind leading US models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
