Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4 vs Z.ai: GLM 5: Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
Verified 2026 FinOps benchmark comparing Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4 (anthropic/claude-sonnet-4) vs Z.ai: GLM 5 (z-ai/glm-5). Simulate cache read multipliers, context cliffs, MAU bills, and P90 latency.
Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4 (anthropic/claude-sonnet-4) — $25,000 Startup Credits & 50% Cache Promo
Anthropic's Q4 2026 developer promotion combines $25,000 in Claude API credits for early-stage builders with a permanent 20% base price reduction on Opus 5.5 ($4/$20), 0.05x ($0.20/1M) prompt cache reads, and 50% off Batch API processing ($2/$10 with 300K max output).
Z.ai: GLM 5 (z-ai/glm-5) 2026 Q4 Developer Promotion & Volume Credits
Official 2026 Q4 promotion for Z.ai: GLM 5: Activate ephemeral prefix caching to slash input costs by 50% (down to $0.5/1M) or route via asynchronous Batch API for 50% off standard token rates.
In Etuki October 2026 FinOps telemetry comparing Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4 (API ID: anthropic/claude-sonnet-4) vs Z.ai: GLM 5 (API ID: z-ai/glm-5), Z.ai: GLM 5 offers lower standard input pricing at $1/1M tokens ($3.2/1M output), while Z.ai: GLM 5 leads in cached prefix economics at $0.5/1M tokens (50% discount). Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4 achieves a 0ms faster P90 time-to-first-token latency (280ms vs 280ms).
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
Auto-discovered via live global telemetry registry.
| Specification / FinOps Dimension | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4 | Z.ai: GLM 5 | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | anthropic/claude-sonnet-4 | z-ai/glm-5 | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $3 / $15 | $1 / $3.2 | Z.ai: GLM 5 |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $1.5/1M (50% Off) | $0.5/1M (50% Off) | Z.ai: GLM 5 |
| Context Window / Max Output | 195K In / 63K Out | 200K In / 128K Out | Z.ai: GLM 5 |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4 (-0ms) |
Claude Sonnet 4 significantly enhances the capabilities of its predecessor, Sonnet 3.7, excelling in both coding and reasoning tasks with improved precision and controllability. Ac
GLM-5 is Z.ai’s flagship open-source foundation model engineered for complex systems design and long-horizon agent workflows. Built for expert developers, it delivers production-gr
Real-Time Stack Cost & Hidden-Fee Simulator (MAU / Token / Egress / GMV)
Calibrated with Reddit r/FinOps & r/devops telemetry: Includes Context Caching, Bandwidth Egress, and MoR Tax
🛰️Switch from Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 4 to Z.ai: GLM 5
GLM-5 is Z.ai’s flagship open-source foundation model engineered for complex systems design and long-horizon agent workflows. Built for expert developers, it delivers production-gr Verified P90 latency of 280ms.