Off late, I’ve been questioning if I actually need paid subscriptions to ChatGPT or Claude anymore. China has been rolling out one spectacular LLM after one other, and the newest, GLM 4.6, is being hailed as among the best but. This mannequin rivals Claude 4.5 Sonnet in coding and matches GPT-5 and Gemini 2.5 Professional in textual content technology and reasoning. And right here’s the kicker: whereas the massive tech gamers cost wherever between $10 to $30 per 30 days for comparable options, GLM 4.6 provides you entry to all of it free of charge. On this publish, we’ll discover GLM 4.6, learn how to entry it, its options, efficiency benchmarks, and a hands-on take a look at on real-world duties.
Let’s get began with GLM 4.6!
What’s GLM 4.6?
Developed by the Chinese language firm Zhipu AI, GLM 4.6 is the newest massive language mannequin and an improve over its predecessor, GLM 4.5. It’s a textual content technology mannequin that works solely with textual content as each enter and output. The mannequin consists of improved coding, reasoning, and agentic capabilities, permitting it to proactively select the correct device for a given process from the set of instruments out there.
Key Options of GLM 4.6
- Enhanced Context Window: GLM 4.6 boasts a context window of 200K tokens, which is considerably bigger than GLM 4.5’s 128K window.
- Higher Reasoning and Agentic Capabilities: The mannequin demonstrates improved reasoning and agentic efficiency. It integrates easily with agent frameworks and delivers extra constant, dependable outputs.
- Higher Coding: GLM 4.6 performs exceptionally effectively on coding benchmarks and integrates successfully with instruments like Claude Code, Cline, and Kilo Code.
The most effective half?
The GLM 4.6 mannequin weights are publicly out there on Hugging Face below the MIT license, making it an open-access mannequin. Actually, it presently ranks #1 amongst open fashions and #4 general on the LMArena leaderboard.
Is GLM 4.6 Free or Paid?
The mannequin may be accessed freely by means of its chat platform. Right here the chatbot assists you with all attainable duties be it involving textual content technology, coding, modifying. However the API it incurs some value which relies on the utilization and the fee for enter and output tokens. Lastly, GLM-4.6 is available in a Coding Plan the place it prices round $3/month for its mild model to $15/month for the professional model.
Find out how to Entry GLM-4.6?
Anybody can entry this mannequin utilizing its chat interface or API.
To entry it utilizing Chat interface:
- Head to this hyperlink.
- Login or Signal as much as create your account.
- From the dropdown current on the high, in the midst of the display screen, choose the mannequin GLM-4.6
- Add the immediate within the chatbox in the midst of the display screen.
To entry GLM-4.6 utilizing API:
- Go to this web site and click on on ‘API keys’
- For those who don’t have a pervious account then create a brand new account or signup with Google
- Now click on on ‘Create new API key’ and provides a reputation to your API and click on on ‘affirm’
Actual World Duties with GLM-4.6
On this part, we’ll put this newest LLM to check on three major duties round:
- Coding
- Reasoning
- Agentic Capabilities
Let’s begin with the primary one!
Coding
Immediate: “Create a inventory market evaluation app, that means individuals learn how to diversify their funding based mostly on their future targets”
Output:
Discover full output right here!
Overview:
I acquired a stellar output from this LLM. I chosen the “Full Stack” device after writing my immediate to ensure the mannequin understood it wanted to construct a prototype for my concept. The request was to create a market evaluation app that would assist customers work out how a lot to speculate and learn how to align their investments with future targets.
The generated webpage included a number of tabs: Dashboard, Funding Targets, Portfolio Evaluation, and AI Suggestions. Every tab served a transparent objective, serving to customers plan, monitor, and optimize their investments based mostly on their targets. I discovered the complete interface user-friendly and interactive, particularly the sections on Funding Targets and AI Suggestions, which supplied actionable insights and a easy expertise.
Reasoning
Immediate: “Analyze the picture and describe what’s taking place. Comply with the arrows to hint the trajectory of closed- vs. open-source fashions on the size proven. Interpret what this implies, discover its implications, and supply a targeted deep-dive into the way forward for open-source fashions. Help your conclusions with easy, clear charts or visuals to make insights simple to grasp.”
Output:
Overview:
The mannequin first gave the response in Chinese language, so I requested it to supply it in English. It appropriately learn the picture, figuring out the place every LLM stood and the place the arrows pointed. However its reasoning was not correct. The mannequin’s interpretation was removed from what the picture implied.
The picture confirmed that the hole between open-source and closed-source fashions is reducing, however the mannequin mentioned the divide is growing. It additionally created a thoughts map for the way forward for open-source fashions, which seemed good, however the content material was largely incorrect.
Agentic Capabilities
Immediate: “I would like the whole checklist of tariffs imposed by Trump on completely different nations, the change in tax charges earlier than and after tariffs and the attainable influence on each the economies of that nation and USA after the imposition of these tariffs. Create a visualization of the general tariffs imposed by trump on numerous nations and the graph of the financial influence.”
Output:
Overview:
At first look, the output seems to be detailed and full. It appears to cowl all the things you requested for. However as at all times, it’s vital to learn it rigorously earlier than counting on it. The mannequin begins effectively, explaining the influence of the Trump tariffs, however the issues seem within the particulars. The tariff charges it listed have been solely up to date till April 9, and even after a number of tries, the mannequin failed to incorporate the newest knowledge. This reveals a transparent limitation in its agentic capabilities.
Efficiency and Benchmarks
GLM 4.6 performs strongly throughout key benchmarks for reasoning, coding, and agentic duties, displaying noticeable beneficial properties over GLM 4.5 and competing fashions:
- AIME 25: Highest general rating, main in reasoning with instruments.
- GPQA & LiveCodeBench v6: Robust efficiency in problem-solving and coding accuracy.
- BrowseComp: Vital enchancment in searching and comprehension duties.
- SWE-bench Verified: Aggressive outcomes, near Claude fashions.
- HLE & Terminal-Bench: Reasonable scores with room for enchancment.
- τ²-Bench: Barely behind Claude Sonnet however nonetheless strong.
Additionally Learn: 14 Standard LLM Benchmarks to Know in 2025
Is GLM-4.6 higher than GPT-5 or Gemini 2.5 Professional or Claude Sonnet 4.5?
To this point for me, I feel the reply to this query is NO. The mannequin comes with an enormous context window, however its reasoning and agentic capabilities don’t stand an opportunity in opposition to the highest fashions by OpenAI or Google. The mannequin is quick however someway hallucinates in the best way it retrieves and processes data. On the coding entrance, it reveals vital enchancment from the final mannequin and with its integrations on high coding instruments like Claude Code – this mannequin is ready to be a companion for coders at a less expensive price ticket.
Different main releases:
Conclusion
GLM 4.6 isn’t a mannequin you’d use for on a regular basis duties. Regardless that it’s free, its responses are much less dependable than these from different fashions. LLMs have improved quickly over the previous few months, and plenty of open fashions now present spectacular sophistication. As compared, GLM 4.6 nonetheless falls wanting that commonplace. Nevertheless, it has obtained optimistic suggestions for its coding efficiency. We are able to anticipate its outputs to enhance within the coming days.
Give it a attempt to let me know in the event you agree with my evaluation.
Anu Madan is an skilled in educational design, content material writing, and B2B advertising and marketing, with a expertise for reworking advanced concepts into impactful narratives. Along with her concentrate on Generative AI, she crafts insightful, revolutionary content material that educates, conjures up, and drives significant engagement.
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