China’s Zhipu AI open-sources flagship model, raises prices to narrow gap with US rivals
China's top open-source AI model gets closer to US pricing, sparking an 11.5% stock surge.
Chinese artificial intelligence company Zhipu AI has executed a dual-strategy shift, simultaneously open-sourcing its latest flagship model, GLM-5.1, while implementing a 10% price increase across its API. This marks the company's second price adjustment in 2026, following a more substantial 30%+ hike for coding subscription plans in February. The latest increase applies to core billing categories like cloud-based input and output tokens, signaling a comprehensive move toward monetizing its advanced AI capabilities as competition with US firms intensifies.
The pricing recalibration brings Zhipu's costs closer to, but still significantly below, its American counterparts. GLM-5.1 now costs $1.40 per million input tokens and approximately $4.40 per million output tokens. In comparison, Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.6, as of February 2026, was priced at $5 and $25 per million tokens, respectively. Despite the price increase, the combination of open-sourcing a top-tier model and demonstrating a viable revenue path was well-received by investors, sending Zhipu's Hong Kong-listed shares up 11.5%.
Benchmarking firm Artificial Analysis ranks GLM-5.1 as the strongest open model globally based on overall intelligence, placing it ahead of domestic Chinese rivals like MiniMax, though still behind leading proprietary models from OpenAI and Anthropic. The model was first released as a proprietary product to coding subscribers in late March, fueling speculation that Zhipu was moving away from open-source. The latest announcement represents a hybrid approach: releasing the model's weights to the community while raising service prices for commercial API access, a strategy aimed at fostering adoption while securing revenue.
- Zhipu AI open-sourced its flagship GLM-5.1 model while raising API prices by 10%, its second price hike this year.
- New pricing is $1.40/million input tokens and $4.40/million output tokens, narrowing but not closing the gap with US models like Anthropic's Claude Opus ($5/$25 per million).
- The strategic shift boosted Zhipu's Hong Kong shares by 11.5%, and GLM-5.1 is ranked the world's strongest open model by Artificial Analysis.
Why It Matters
Signals a global shift where leading AI firms balance open-source community building with sustainable monetization, increasing pressure on US rivals.