Chat / reasoning
GLM (general / reasoning)
Best for: Agents, coding and general chat
Recent versions are strong at coding and tool use.
AppAPIOpen weights
🇨🇳 China · China
Zhipu AI (GLM) models explained
Beijing’s Zhipu AI (also known internationally as Z.ai), a spin-off from Tsinghua University research, develops the GLM family, several of which are released with open weights.
All model families
Vision-language
GLM vision models
Best for: Images and documents
Multimodal versions.
APIOpen weights
Model names and versions change often. Check the official documentation for the newest releases.
⚡ Which model should you use?
- Try GLM through Z.ai chat or via its API; open versions can be self-hosted.
Data, privacy and your region
Cloud services from Chinese companies process data under Chinese law and the provider’s privacy policy. Many organisations in the UK, EU and US restrict their use for sensitive data. The open-weight models can instead be run locally or on your own servers, where your data stays under your control.
Frequently asked questions
Is GLM open source?
Several GLM models are published with open weights under permissive licences; check each release.