Model Comparison 2026

GLM 4.6 vs GLM 5.2

GLM 4.6
Z.AI · Balanced · Open weights
$0.95/1M · 205K ctx
GLM 5.2
Z.AI · Frontier · Open weights
$1.26/1M · 1.0M ctx

Community Vote

Pick a winner in each dimension — change your vote anytime.

Output Quality
Correctness and depth of what it produces
Agentic Ability
Tool calls, instruction-following, and multi-step tasks
Speed
Tokens per second and time-to-first-token
Value for $
How much capability you get per dollar
Reliability
Consistent results — fewer refusals, loops, and format breaks

Specs & Pricing, Side by Side

Spec
GLM 4.6
GLM 5.2
Maker
Z.AI
Z.AI
Blended price / 1M
$0.95
$1.26
Input / output
$0.50 in · $2.00 out / 1M tokens
$0.77 in · $2.42 out / 1M tokens
Context window
205K
1.0M
Open weights
Yes
Yes
Tool use
Yes
Yes
Reasoning
Yes
Yes
Output Quality
7.8
9.0
Agentic Ability
7.9
9.2
Speed
8.0
7.6
Value for $
8.8
8.8
Reliability
8.4
8.7

Pricing and capabilities synced from the OpenRouter catalogue. Scores are editorial (0–10).

Verdict: GLM 4.6 or GLM 5.2?

Updated 2026-08-02

Choose GLM 4.6 if you want the value pick for open-weight coding agents. Choose GLM 5.2 if you want open-weight coding agents that want a long context.

In our editorial scoring, GLM 5.2 leads in 3 of five dimensions (output quality, agentic ability and reliability), while GLM 4.6 leads in 1. On price, GLM 4.6 runs about $0.95 per 1M tokens (blended) and is open-weight; GLM 5.2 is about $1.26 and open-weight.

Where GLM 4.6 falls short
  • Smaller context than the 5.x line
  • Below frontier on the hardest tasks
Full GLM 4.6 breakdown →
Where GLM 5.2 falls short
  • Just behind the closed flagships on hard tasks
  • Hosted throughput varies
Full GLM 5.2 breakdown →

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