How to Use GLM-5 API for Free in 2026

How to Use GLM-5 API for Free in 2026

GLM-5 is the latest large language model from ZAI (智谱AI / Zhipu AI), one of China's leading AI companies. With strong coding capabilities and a 128K context window, GLM-5 competes with top-tier models while offering significantly lower pricing. This guide shows you how to access GLM-5 for free and integrate it into your projects.

What Is GLM-5?

GLM-5 is ZAI's flagship model, built for complex reasoning, code generation, and long-context tasks. Key specs include:

• 128K context window -- process entire codebases, long documents, or extended conversations
• Strong coding performance -- competitive with leading models on code generation benchmarks
• Multilingual support -- excellent in both Chinese and English
• Efficient architecture -- fast inference with high-quality output

GLM-5 Official Pricing

ZAI's official API pricing for GLM-5:

Hypereal offers GLM-5 at a 40% discount compared to ZAI's direct pricing, making it one of the most affordable ways to use this model at scale.

Free Ways to Access GLM-5

1. ZAI Platform Free Tier

ZAI (zhipuai.cn) provides free credits for new users on their platform. Sign up and you can experiment with GLM-5 directly through their console. This is a good option for quick testing, though the free credits are limited.

2. Hypereal -- 35 Free Credits

Hypereal gives every new user 35 free credits on signup, with no credit card required. These credits can be used with any supported model, including GLM-5. Since Hypereal uses an OpenAI-compatible API format, you can integrate it into existing projects with minimal changes.

Code Examples

Python

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key="your-hypereal-api-key",
    base_url="https://hypereal.tech/api/v1/chat"
)

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="glm-5",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful coding assistant."},
        {"role": "user", "content": "Write a Python function to merge two sorted arrays."}
    ],
    max_tokens=2048
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

TypeScript

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
  apiKey: "your-hypereal-api-key",
  baseURL: "https://hypereal.tech/api/v1/chat",
});

const response = await client.chat.completions.create({
  model: "glm-5",
  messages: [
    { role: "system", content: "You are a helpful coding assistant." },
    { role: "user", content: "Write a TypeScript function to debounce any callback." },
  ],
  max_tokens: 2048,
});

console.log(response.choices[0].message.content);

cURL

curl https://hypereal.tech/api/v1/chat/completions \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-hypereal-api-key" \
  -d '{
    "model": "glm-5",
    "messages": [
      {"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful coding assistant."},
      {"role": "user", "content": "Explain how async/await works in JavaScript."}
    ],
    "max_tokens": 2048
  }'

Provider Comparison

Integration Tips

• OpenAI SDK compatible -- if you already use the OpenAI Python or JS SDK, just change the base_url and api_key to use GLM-5 through Hypereal
• Streaming supported -- add stream: true to your request for real-time token output
• System prompts -- GLM-5 responds well to detailed system prompts, especially for coding tasks
• Temperature -- for code generation, use a lower temperature (0.1-0.3) for deterministic output; for creative tasks, go higher (0.7-1.0)

When to Use GLM-5

GLM-5 is a strong choice when you need:

• Cost-effective coding assistance at scale
• Long-context processing (up to 128K tokens)
• A reliable alternative to more expensive Western models
• Bilingual (Chinese/English) capabilities

Get Started

Try Hypereal AI free -- 35 credits, no credit card required.

Sign up, grab your API key from the dashboard, and start making requests in minutes. The OpenAI-compatible format means you can drop GLM-5 into any existing workflow with a two-line config change.