--- title: "Z.AI Model API free inference" description: "3 model routes currently listed at zero price. See verified limits, model IDs, privacy terms, and primary sources for Z.AI Model API." canonical_url: "https://freeinferencing.com/provider/zai/" md_url: "https://freeinferencing.com/provider/zai.md" last_updated: "2026-09-19" --- # Z.AI Model API > 3 model routes currently listed at zero price. ## Classification - **Directory:** Current - **Free access:** Free model routes - **Status:** Available now - **Confidence:** High - **Payment card:** No - **Account:** Required - **Equivalent paid value:** Not quantifiable - **API endpoint:** `https://api.z.ai/api/paas/v4` ## Models mentioned - `glm-4.7-flash` - `glm-4.6v-flash` - `glm-4.5-flash` ## Limits and terms ```yaml published_numeric_limits: false source_of_truth: Signed-in rate-limit dashboard. ``` ## What happens to your prompts? **Private.** The API DPA describes real-time processing without storage and requires explicit agreement before content-based development or improvement. Privacy is audited separately from price. Review the current governing terms before sending sensitive or regulated data. ## Data governance and agreements ```yaml data_governance: review_status: reviewed plan_scope: Z.AI developer API; the consumer-service terms differ materially. prompt_retention: The API DPA says prompt and generated content is processed in real time and not stored on Z.AI servers. response_retention: The API DPA gives generated API content the same no-storage treatment as input. ordinary_logging: Performance and usage metrics such as model version, inference, timing, diagnostics, and technical data may be collected and used to improve the service. model_training: API End User Content is not used to develop or improve services unless the API customer explicitly agrees. product_improvement: Technical usage metrics may be used for improvement; content use requires explicit agreement for API customers. human_or_operator_access: Content is processed to deliver the service and may be handled by approved subprocessors; no zero-operator-access promise is published. subprocessors_and_routing: The DPA permits subcontractors and generally locates processing in Singapore; third-party model terms apply when selected. deletion_controls: Content is not stored under the API DPA; other customer data is deleted after termination unless law requires retention. caveat: Do not apply the consumer Z.AI policy, which permits broad content improvement use, to the developer API; the API Additional Terms and DPA control API content. agreements: terms_of_service: https://docs.z.ai/legal-agreement/terms-of-use privacy_policy: https://docs.z.ai/legal-agreement/privacy-policy ``` ## Eligibility ```yaml account_required: true payment_method_required: not_documented ``` ## API compatibility and modalities - **Compatibility:** OpenAI Style Chat Completions - **Modalities:** Text generation ## Before you build with Z.AI Model API ### Read the classification narrowly This record describes the bounded offer supported by evidence on 2026-09-19; it does not guarantee permanence, production suitability, uptime, latency, model quality, or access from every account and region. “Free model routes” should be interpreted together with the Current directory placement, High confidence, No payment-card status, and the plan-specific sources below. ### Resolve the live model route The snapshot records 3 model IDs. Match the exact ID against the provider's current catalog before using it in code because zero-price routes, aliases, context limits, and feature support can rotate while an older documentation page remains online. ### Match the quota to the workload shape Translate the allowance into peak requests per minute, input and output tokens, concurrency, retries, and every daily or monthly ceiling that applies to the intended account. The first limit reached by the workload is the practical ceiling. A large token pool can still fail interactive bursts, and a high request limit can still fail long-context work. Include tool calls and retry traffic, test the largest realistic payload, and treat research, experimental, and community access as conditional on their eligibility and fair-use terms. ### Preserve billing and privacy boundaries The recorded payment-card requirement is No, and account access is required. Confirm both in the live signup flow, set provider-side budgets when charges are possible, and observe the balance or usage fields after a complete request. The prompt-handling classification is **Private** because The API DPA describes real-time processing without storage and requires explicit agreement before content-based development or improvement. Re-read the terms for the exact route and plan before sending sensitive, regulated, or proprietary content. ### Follow the evidence, then re-check it This record links 11 first-party sources covering the offer, catalog, limits, pricing, terms, privacy, or adoption evidence available to the audit. Prefer the newest and most specific governing document or live catalog when sources disagree. A dated finding can become stale even when the page remains online, so retain the source and snapshot that supported the decision and submit a correction when a provider changes a material term. ### Plan fallback without policy drift A fallback should preserve modality, context length, streaming, structured output, tools, safety controls, and data terms, not only API syntax. Decide which errors may retry, cap retry storms, and prevent an exhausted free route from silently switching to a billable model. Rotating aliases and free pools can change behavior without changing the endpoint, so retain the response model field and test at least one substitute route before the primary offer becomes unavailable. ### Monitor the offer as a dependency Capture the model ID, response model, rate-limit headers, usage fields, latency, HTTP status, and provider request identifier. Watch authorization failure, quota exhaustion, catalog removal, policy revision, and balance movement as separate failure modes. Re-check the live catalog and governing sources on a schedule proportionate to the workload's importance, and keep an owner and exit path for any production dependency on volatile free capacity. ### Test one complete request before scaling Start with the smallest permitted request using the exact credential, model ID, endpoint, region, and account type intended for deployment. Record the status, headers, usage fields, response model, latency, and dashboard balance movement. Then exercise an invalid model, quota exhaustion, or rate limit so failure is explicit and cannot silently switch to a paid route. Validate streaming, structured output, and tool calls separately because a free model can expose fewer features than its paid counterpart. Keep a budget ceiling outside the application whenever billing is possible, and do not send sensitive data until the observed route matches the reviewed agreement. ## Primary sources - [Z.AI pricing](https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/pricing): Official Pricing - [Models overview](https://docs.z.ai/guides/overview/overview): Official Docs - [Chat completion API](https://docs.z.ai/api-reference/llm/chat-completion): Official API Reference - [Z.AI Terms and Additional Terms for API Services](https://docs.z.ai/legal-agreement/terms-of-use): Official Terms - [Z.AI Privacy Policy and API DPA](https://docs.z.ai/legal-agreement/privacy-policy): Official Privacy - [GLM-4.7 model guide (200K context, 128K max output; Flash marked free)](https://docs.z.ai/guides/llm/glm-4.7): Official Docs - [Operator rate-limit documentation deferring numbers to the signed-in console](https://docs.bigmodel.cn/cn/api/rate-limit): Official Docs - [OpenRouter price for the exact model z-ai/glm-4.7-flash (snapshot 2026-08-22)](https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/models): Router Pricing - [CGTN coverage of Zhipu IPO metrics (2.9M MaaS platform users, 12,000 enterprise clients)](https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-01-09/4-key-takeaways-Zhipu-becomes-first-Chinese-AI-firm-to-go-public-1JN0K7CEJaw/p.html): Reputable Reporting - [pypistats recent downloads for the official zai-sdk package](https://pypistats.org/api/packages/zai-sdk/recent): Package Downloads - [Z.ai organization model releases (GLM family)](https://huggingface.co/zai-org): Official Repository ## Sitemap See the full [semantic sitemap](/sitemap.md) for every page and markdown mirror.