Simulating realistic Agentic workflow parameters (40,000 in / 1,500 out with 65% cache reuse). GLM-4.6 (Z.ai) delivers a 70% cost reduction over Claude Sonnet 5.
| Traffic Volume Tier | Claude Sonnet 5 Monthly | GLM-4.6 (Z.ai) Monthly | Monthly Savings by picking GLM-4.6 (Z.ai) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 reqs/mo (Dev/Testing) | $48.20 | $14.56 | Save $33.64 / mo |
| 10,000 reqs/mo (Small App) | $482.00 | $145.60 | Save $336.40 / mo |
| 100,000 reqs/mo (Growth Production) | $4,820.00 | $1,456.00 | Save $3,364.00 / mo |
| 1,000,000 reqs/mo (Scale SaaS) | $48,200.00 | $14,560.00 | Save $33,640.00 / mo |
GLM-4.6 (Z.ai) is 70% cheaper for Agentic workflow workloads. At standard Agentic workflow parameter ratios (40,000 input tokens, 1,500 output tokens, 65% cache hit), GLM-4.6 (Z.ai) costs $0.0146 per request compared to $0.0482 on Claude Sonnet 5.
Claude Sonnet 5 offers a context window of 1,000,000 tokens (max output: 128,000), while GLM-4.6 (Z.ai) offers 200,000 tokens (max output: 131,072).
At 100,000 requests per month, using GLM-4.6 (Z.ai) saves $3,364.00 every month (or $40,368.00 annually) compared to Claude Sonnet 5.
Prompt caching is the single biggest lever — each step re-reads prior context. Summarize or prune tool outputs before appending them to the transcript. Cap the step budget; runaway loops are the #1 surprise on agent invoices.