The best alternatives to Z.ai (GLM)
Z.ai (GLM) might not be the right fit: the price, a missing feature or a payment model you don't like. These are the closest alternatives in our catalog, ordered by rating, with the full review of each one.
Why look for a Z.ai (GLM) alternative
The argument that repeats most is the price and openness equation: MIT-licensed weights anyone can download and an entry plan at $18 a month against the $20 the big names charge. The complaints repeat too, the free chat answers with an older model unless you create an account, there are no mobile apps, and the dependence on a Chinese company comes up as soon as the use stops being personal.
What its own users repeat in the July 26, 2026 sweep:
- Without signing in the chat answers with GLM-4.7 rather than the flagship GLM-5.2, which shows in the picker but requires an account (strong theme)
- Data location is a recurring theme: the official policy says processing generally happens in Singapore, but the parent company is Chinese and that weighs on regulated work (strong theme)
- Downloading the weights is not the same as being able to run them: 753 billion parameters demand hardware out of reach for an individual or a small team (present theme)
- There is only a web version, with no official iOS or Android apps outside China, and the interface is English only (present theme)
- Part of the community places it a few months behind the frontier labs on architectural reasoning, useful but not first (present theme)
Best alternatives to Z.ai (GLM)
Anthropic's AI assistant for writing, analysing and thinking through documents.
The AI assistant that covers the most ground.
Moonshot's assistant with a million-token context window.
What the internet says about each alternative
Claude 4.2/5 · Free + from $17
The praise repeats across app stores and forums: for writing and analysing long documents, text quality is why people pay. The complaint repeats too and it is a single one, usage limits run out mid-task and the official help explains what burns them without publishing numbers.
Where it wins: Long-form text quality and nuanced analysis is the most cited reason to pay, with 4.7 stars across 210,000 App Store ratings Where it slips: Usage limits are opaque: official docs say what burns them but publish no numbers, and running out with no warning is the dominant complaint
ChatGPT 4.1/5 · Free + from $20
The agreement is broad: ChatGPT covers more ground than any rival and needs the least explaining to a newcomer. Two complaints repeat, the Plus usage caps run out without the interface ever showing what you have spent, and since February 2026 the Free and Go plans carry ads, now the most cited reason people cancel in forum threads.
Where it wins: It covers text, code, images, voice, web search and cross-conversation memory in one place, and that breadth is the argument people repeat most when comparing it with rivals Where it slips: The Plus caps run out with no consumption meter in the interface, and a single long task can burn the whole period's allowance
Kimi 3.8/5 · Free + from $19
Kimi has stopped being the cheap option and now competes at the top while charging like it: K3 holds up against frontier models and the entry plan costs $19, roughly what ChatGPT or Claude charge. The recurring praise is the very long context and a free plan none of the big three match. The recurring complaint is that Moonshot paused new sign-ups for lack of GPUs, and that its privacy policy never says which country your data ends up in.
Where it wins: Frontier-level quality on long research and documents: K3 entered the Frontend Code Arena at number one, and research reports are the most praised feature in app store ratings Where it slips: The entry plan costs $19 a month, essentially what the big three charge, so the bargain-price argument no longer applies to the assistant
Comparison table
| Tool | Price | Free trial | Platforms | Rating | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Z.ai (GLM) | Free + from $18 | No | Web | VisitZ.ai (GLM) (opens in a new tab) | |
| Claude | Free + from $17 | No | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows | VisitClaude (opens in a new tab) | |
| ChatGPT | Free + from $20 | No | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows | VisitChatGPT (opens in a new tab) | |
| Kimi | Free + from $19 | No | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows | VisitKimi (opens in a new tab) |
Still unsure? Read the full review of Z.ai (GLM)?