ChatGLM

What is ChatGLM?

ChatGLM is a bilingual Chinese and English AI assistant from Zhipu AI, offered to consumers as Zhipu Qingyan at chatglm.cn. It is built on the GLM family of models, some of which are released as open weights.

Key capabilities of ChatGLM

• Chat assistant: Conversation, writing and question answering in Chinese and English
• Document reading: Upload documents and ask questions about them
• Image understanding: Vision models accept images alongside text
• Coding help: GLM models are used for code generation and coding agents
• Agentic tools: Agent-style task execution in the Zhipu product line
• Developer API: GLM models are available through Zhipu and Z.ai APIs

How ChatGLM works

You type a prompt, optionally attach files or images, and a GLM model generates text or code. Developers can call the same model family through the API, and some GLM models are published with open weights for self-hosting. Outputs should be reviewed by the user before use.

Who uses ChatGLM?

ChatGLM is used by Chinese-language consumers who want an assistant on web and mobile, and by developers and enterprises building on GLM models through the API or open weights.

ChatGLM pricing

The consumer assistant is described by third-party reviews as free with a daily quota and optional paid membership. Zhipu has published free API models such as GLM-4.7-Flash and GLM-4.5-Flash, with paid models billed per token. Check the vendor for current rates.

ChatGLM alternatives

Alternatives include Qwen from Alibaba, Doubao from ByteDance and Microsoft Copilot. ChatGLM is distinguished by the open-weight GLM model family from Zhipu AI.