Zhipu GLM API on Z.ai: Sign-Up, Card Payment and 3DS
By Nicho
Outside China, Zhipu's GLM models are sold through Z.ai, its international platform, not bigmodel.cn. You can sign up with email, Google or GitHub and top up by credit card, with prices in US dollars. The catch is in Z.ai's FAQ: card top-ups don't support 3-D Secure verification yet.
This guide covers Z.ai as it stood on October 28, 2026, checked against Z.ai's official docs and terms. It also covers a second route: calling GLM-5.3 and GLM-5.3-Flash through cheapaimodel, from the same account you use for Kimi and DeepSeek. For GLM token prices, cache costs and the API-versus-Coding-Plan question, see GLM API pricing.
Quick answers
- Which site: Z.ai outside China. The API base URL is
https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4, and it works with the OpenAI SDK. - Sign-up: email or phone, or Google or GitHub. The docs don't describe identity checks for international accounts.
- Payment: credit card top-ups in US dollars, but 3DS isn't supported. Z.ai doesn't list a minimum top-up or other methods for pay-as-you-go.
- Rate limits: shown in the console after you sign in. Z.ai doesn't publish the numbers.
- Refunds: payments are non-refundable unless the law requires otherwise.
Z.ai or bigmodel.cn: which GLM platform to use outside China
| Z.ai (international) | bigmodel.cn (mainland China) | |
|---|---|---|
| API base URL | https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4 |
https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4 |
| Operator | JINGSHENG HENGXING TECHNOLOGY PTE.LTD, Singapore law | Beijing Zhipu Huazhang Technology, PRC law |
| Sign-up | Email or phone; Google or GitHub | Mobile phone number |
Z.ai's privacy policy says customer data is generally processed in Singapore, and that Z.ai does not store the content you send or generate through the API.
Z.ai also sells the GLM Coding Plan, a subscription from $18 a month for coding tools. Its keys are separate from pay-as-you-go keys and work only inside supported coding tools. This guide is about pay-as-you-go API access; GLM API pricing compares the two.
Z.ai sign-up
Z.ai's terms refer to the email or phone number you register with. Its privacy policy covers signing up with Google or GitHub. The docs don't describe identity verification for international accounts, and they don't say whether a Chinese phone number is needed.
Z.ai's terms list the places it does not serve: Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Crimea, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.
Does Z.ai accept credit cards? Top-ups and 3DS
Yes, but with a catch. You top up at z.ai/manage-apikey/billing, and all prices are in US dollars. Z.ai's FAQ says "3DS verification is not supported in our platform at this moment" and asks you to make sure you're not using 3DS when you top up with a credit card. If your bank requires 3-D Secure for every online payment, your top-up may not go through.
The rest of the billing rules:
- Prepaid: usage is deducted from your balance.
- Other methods: PayPal appears in Z.ai's docs only as a way to pay for the Coding Plan. Z.ai doesn't list other methods for pay-as-you-go top-ups.
- Minimum: Z.ai doesn't state a minimum top-up.
- Refunds: the terms say "all payments are non-refundable unless otherwise required by applicable law."
- Invoices: Z.ai's docs mention billing history, but not invoices or receipts.
GLM API billing delays and rate limits
- Billing delay: usage shows up late. The FAQ says the current day's consumption "will not be immediately visible in the billing details," so don't panic if your balance hasn't moved.
- Rate limits: you see them in the console at z.ai/manage-apikey/rate-limits after signing in. Z.ai doesn't publish the numbers or how they rise.
Error codes to know (all return HTTP 429):
| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1113 | Insufficient balance or no resource package |
| 1302 | Rate limit reached |
| 1305 | Service overloaded |
GLM API prices on Z.ai
| Model | Input / 1M | Cached input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| GLM-5.3 | $1.40 | $0.26 | $4.40 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash | $0.15 | $0.03 | $0.50 |
Z.ai also offers some older small models at no cost: GLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.5-Flash and GLM-4.6V-Flash. GLM-5.3-Flash is not one of them.
GLM-5.3 with a card: the cheapaimodel route
cheapaimodel is a prepaid, OpenAI-compatible API for open-weight models. You sign in with Google, top up in US dollars and call GLM, Kimi and DeepSeek with the same key.
| Per 1M tokens | Z.ai | cheapaimodel |
|---|---|---|
| GLM-5.3 input | $1.40 | $0.976972 |
| GLM-5.3 cached input | $0.26 | $0.181438 |
| GLM-5.3 output | $4.40 | $3.070483 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash input | $0.15 | $0.104676 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash cached input | $0.03 | $0.020935 |
| GLM-5.3-Flash output | $0.50 | $0.348919 |
Our prices were taken from cheapaimodel's live model list on October 28, 2026, and are 30% below Z.ai's list prices.
What you get on cheapaimodel:
- Payment: a credit or debit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, JCB), Apple Pay, Google Pay or Link through Stripe Checkout, in US dollars. Stripe emails the receipt.
- Top-ups: $5 minimum, no subscription. One balance covers every model.
- Usage: visible right away. Every call appears in the console's logs with its tokens and cost.
- Per-key controls: set a spending limit, an expiration date, and model or IP allowlists on each key.
To weigh GLM-5.3 against the other models on the same key, see GLM-5.3 vs Kimi K3 and DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash vs GLM-5.3.
When Z.ai is the better choice
- Free models: you only need the free GLM-4.x Flash models.
- Coding Plan: you want the subscription for a coding tool.
- Anthropic-format calls: you need the Anthropic Messages format. cheapaimodel serves the OpenAI format only.
- Refunds: both Z.ai and cheapaimodel treat top-ups as non-refundable except where the law or our terms say otherwise.
Call GLM-5.3 through cheapaimodel
Use any OpenAI SDK. Set the base URL to https://api.cheapaimodel.ai/v1 and the model to glm-5.3. For the faster, cheaper model, use glm-5.3-flash:
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
base_url="https://api.cheapaimodel.ai/v1",
api_key="YOUR_API_KEY",
)
reply = client.chat.completions.create(
model="glm-5.3",
messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Write a Python function that validates an IBAN."}],
)
print(reply.choices[0].message.content)
The quickstart walks through sign-in, top-up and your first key. Live prices for every model are on the pricing page.
Using Kimi or DeepSeek too?
This is one of three guides for developers outside China. The other two cover the Kimi API and paying for the DeepSeek API. All of these models run on one cheapaimodel key; see all open-source models.
Sources: Z.ai API introduction, Z.ai quick start, Z.ai pricing, Z.ai FAQ, Z.ai error codes, Z.ai terms of use, Z.ai privacy policy, GLM Coding Plan FAQ, Coding Plan key management.