Z.ai: GLM 5 vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017: Live Promos, Pricing, Hidden Fees & Latency
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.
DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017) — Automatic Disk KV Cache (0.15/1M) & Off-Peak Promo
DeepSeek-V4 Pro (1.6T MoE) automatically caches repeated 64-token prompt prefixes on NVMe storage at $0.07/1M input tokens (50% off $0.14 base) with zero code changes required, plus off-peak UTC scheduling discounts.
In Etuki October 2026 FinOps telemetry comparing Z.ai: GLM 5 (API ID: z-ai/glm-5) vs DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 (API ID: deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017), DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 offers lower standard input pricing at $0.3/1M tokens ($1.2/1M output), while DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 leads in cached prefix economics at $0.15/1M tokens (50% discount). Z.ai: GLM 5 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 | Z.ai: GLM 5 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 | Verified Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Vendor API ID | z-ai/glm-5 | deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017 | Pinned Snapshot IDs |
| Standard Input / Output (per 1M) | $1 / $3.2 | $0.3 / $1.2 | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Cache Read Price (per 1M) | $0.5/1M (50% Off) | $0.15/1M (50% Off) | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| Context Window / Max Output | 200K In / 128K Out | 1024K In / 384K Out | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 |
| P90 First-Token / Edge Latency | 280ms | 280ms | Z.ai: GLM 5 (-0ms) |
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
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the October 17, 2026 snapshot of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, served by DeepSeek under the `deepseek-flash` API model name. V4.1 Flash is a sparse mixture-of-ex
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 Z.ai: GLM 5 to DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017 is the October 17, 2026 snapshot of DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, served by DeepSeek under the `deepseek-flash` API model name. V4.1 Flash is a sparse mixture-of-ex Verified P90 latency of 280ms.