GLM 4.5 Air (free) alternatives
Models from providers other than Z.ai, ranked by similarity to GLM 4.5 Air (free) — capability overlap, context window proximity, and per-million-token price. Refreshed nightly.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best alternatives to GLM 4.5 Air (free)?
The closest alternatives to GLM 4.5 Air (free) are CoBuddy (free), gpt-oss-120b (free) and gpt-oss-20b (free). They are ranked by capability overlap, context-window similarity, and blended price.
Why might I switch from GLM 4.5 Air (free)?
Common reasons: reducing vendor lock-in, finding cheaper input/output pricing for your specific workload mix, or wanting capabilities GLM 4.5 Air (free) lacks (vision, tool use, JSON mode). Compare any two side-by-side from this page.
How is "alternative" defined here?
An alternative is a model from a different provider than Z.ai with similar capabilities, comparable context window, and comparable per-million-token pricing. Same-provider variants (e.g. smaller siblings of GLM 4.5 Air (free)) are excluded — for those, use the cost calculator and compare pages.