Together AI vs Z.AI: Token Pricing, Speed & Intelligence
Full comparison of Together AI and Z.AI — live token pricing, latency, throughput, context window, strengths, weaknesses, and best use cases. Updated July 2026.
Together AI
Open-source model hosting with competitive inference pricing
Together AI specialises in hosting open-weight models including the full Llama family, Mixtral, and DeepSeek variants. They offer live pricing via their public API and support fine-tuning workflows. A popular choice for teams that want open-source flexibility without managing their own GPU infrastructure.
Z.AI
GLM frontier models with 1M context
Z.AI (formerly Zhipu AI) develops the GLM series of large language models. GLM-5.2 supports a 1M token context window and is designed for enterprise-grade chat, coding, and long-document tasks.
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Live token pricing
Strengths & weaknesses
Together AI
Z.AI
Key differentiators
The broadest open-weight model catalog with fine-tuning support — ideal for teams that need model customisation without self-hosting.
GLM-5.2 offers a 1M token context window at $1.11/1M input tokens, making it one of the most cost-effective long-context models available.
Frequently asked questions
Together AI FAQs
What models does Together AI support?
Together AI hosts 100+ open-weight models including the full Llama 3.x family (8B, 70B, 405B), Mixtral, DeepSeek R1, Qwen, and many others. They also support custom fine-tuned model deployment.
How much does Together AI cost?
Llama 3.3 70B costs $0.88/1M tokens (input and output). Llama 3.1 405B is $3.50/1M tokens. Smaller models like Llama 3.2 11B Vision start at $0.18/1M tokens.
Does Together AI support fine-tuning?
Yes. Together AI offers supervised fine-tuning for Llama and other open-weight models. You can upload training data, run fine-tuning jobs, and deploy the resulting model via their inference API.
Z.AI FAQs
What is GLM-5.2?
GLM-5.2 is the latest model in Zhipu AI's GLM series, supporting a 1M token context window. It is designed for long-document analysis, coding, and enterprise chat applications.
How does Z.AI compare to other Chinese LLM providers?
Z.AI's GLM models compete with Alibaba's Qwen and Baidu's ERNIE series. GLM-5.2 stands out for its 1M context window and competitive pricing.
Provider resources
Together AI — Open-source model hosting with competitive inference pricing
Together AI specialises in hosting open-weight models including the full Llama family, Mixtral, and DeepSeek variants. They offer live pricing via their public API and support fine-tuning workflows. A popular choice for teams that want open-source flexibility without managing their own GPU infrastructure.
The broadest open-weight model catalog with fine-tuning support — ideal for teams that need model customisation without self-hosting.
Z.AI — GLM frontier models with 1M context
Z.AI (formerly Zhipu AI) develops the GLM series of large language models. GLM-5.2 supports a 1M token context window and is designed for enterprise-grade chat, coding, and long-document tasks.
GLM-5.2 offers a 1M token context window at $1.11/1M input tokens, making it one of the most cost-effective long-context models available.
Key strengths compared
Together AI
- ▸Largest selection of open-weight models
- ▸Fine-tuning support for custom model training
- ▸OpenAI-compatible API — easy migration
Z.AI
- ▸1M token context window
- ▸Strong Chinese and English bilingual performance
- ▸Enterprise-grade reliability
Provider category context
Together AI is a inference api, founded in 2022. Z.AI is a frontier lab, founded in 2019. Together AI as an inference API provider hosts open-weight models — typically offering lower prices for equivalent capability tiers. Z.AI as a frontier lab trains and serves proprietary models with capabilities not available elsewhere.
How to choose between them
Choose Together AI if you need largest selection of open-weight models. Choose Z.AI if you need 1m token context window. For high-volume production workloads, run a cost comparison using the token pricing table above with your actual prompt/completion token ratio — the cheapest provider depends heavily on your input-to-output token ratio.