Free Z AI (Zhipu AI) API Key, Base URL & Rate Limits

API Provider

Z AI (Zhipu AI) is a leading Chinese AI lab offering GLM series models for free.

OpenAI CompatibleFree TierStreamingFunction CallingVision

Save API Key Test API Key Get API Key Docs

How to get a free Z AI (Zhipu AI) API key

1
Sign up at open.bigmodel.cn Phone verification (China). No credit card.
Get Z AI (Zhipu AI) API key →
2
Go to API Keys in user center
3
Create an API key
4
Choose a model GLM-4.7-Flash for free tier with 200K context.
5
Configure OpenAI client Base URL: https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4

Provider Snapshot

P Provider Type API Provider

O OpenAI Compatible Yes

U Base URL https://open.bigmodel.cn/api/paas/v4

F Free Tier 4 free models online

P Phone Required Yes

S Streaming Yes

T Function Calling Yes

V Vision Yes

L Last Updated 2026-08-06

Supported Models 4 models

View in directory →

Model ID	Developer	Context	Availability	Free Tier	Use cases
glm-4.7 GLM-4.7-Flash	Z AI	200K	Online	Yes	chat
glm-4.6 GLM-4.6V-Flash	Z AI (Zhipu AI)	128K	Online	Yes	chat
glm-4.5 GLM-4.5-Flash	Z AI (Zhipu AI)	128K	Online	Yes	chat
glm-4.5-air GLM-4.5-Air	Z AI (Zhipu AI)	131K	Online	Yes	chat

Developer Tools

K Save API Key Never lose your API keys — save keys from all providers in one place. T Test API Key Test your API key and check quota.

Z AI (Zhipu AI) FreeLLM Score free API access score

How we score →

61 /100

👍 Good Option — Notable for stable service

Generosity Free limits and access terms

Access Signup and key availability

Model Breadth Free model coverage

Reliability Status and stability signals

Compatibility SDK and endpoint support

Quality Model capability signals

What is Z AI (Zhipu AI)?

Zhipu GLM-4.7-Flash — 200K context, no credit card, 1 concurrent request.

Z AI (Zhipu AI) is a leading Chinese AI lab offering GLM series models for free. The GLM-4.7-Flash model provides 200K context at no cost with no credit card required. Rate limited to 1 concurrent request — best for solo developers and prototyping rather than concurrent workloads.

GLM-4.7-Flash: 200K context
No credit card required
Chinese + English bilingual
OpenAI-compatible endpoint

API Compatibility: Live-tested OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions

Z AI (Zhipu AI) Free Tier Limits & Pricing

Credit Card Not required

Phone Verification Required

Free Tier 4 free models online

Context Range 128K – 200K

Total Models 4 listed

Rate Limits 1 concurrent request

API Compatibility Live-tested OpenAI-compatible Chat Completions

Z AI (Zhipu AI) API Setup Tutorials

Claude Code Environment variables and base URL setup Codex OpenAI-compatible config for local coding Gemini CLI Provider-specific API key routing notes

Z AI (Zhipu AI) is fully compatible with popular AI coding assistants like Cursor, Claude Code, and more. To see step-by-step API configuration instructions for your favorite tool, please visit our Global Configuration Guide →

Z AI (Zhipu AI) Model Use Cases

What Z AI (Zhipu AI)'s free models are best for, based on aggregated model capabilities:

Chat 4 models

Z AI (Zhipu AI) Limitations & Caveats

1 concurrent request only — unusable for multi-user apps
China-hosted — high latency outside Asia
Chinese phone number required for registration

Z AI (Zhipu AI) FAQ

Is GLM-4.7-Flash competitive with other free models?

GLM-4.7-Flash offers 200K context, which is larger than most free tier models. Quality is comparable to Qwen3 and Llama 3 for Chinese-English bilingual tasks. It excels in Chinese language understanding.

Can I use Z AI (Zhipu) from outside China?

Technically yes, but latency will be high since servers are in China. The bigger issue is registration — it requires a Chinese phone number, which blocks most international users.

What does "1 concurrent request" mean in practice?

You can only have one API request in-flight at a time. If you send a second request while the first is still processing, it will queue or fail. This makes it only suitable for single-user, sequential workloads.