Our pickQwen (Alibaba)
GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI)
Tier-list head-to-head. Qwen (Alibaba) takes the A-tier slot — here's the breakdown.
Spec sheet
| Qwen (Alibaba) | GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | A-tierwin | A-tier |
| Overall score | 8.8 / 10win | 8.0 / 10 |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | $0 | $0 |
| Best for | Developers who want frontier-tier open weights with Apache 2. | Teams that need genuine MIT-licensed frontier open weights with no commercial strings. |
| Last reviewed | 2026-04-27 | 2026-04-17 |
Head-to-head
Rated 1-10 on the same rubric across all 130 tools we cover.
Vibe check
How each tool actually sounds when you talk to it.
“The multilingual Alibaba all-rounder”
“The Z.ai research model”
What you'll pay
Look past the headline number -- entry-tier limits drive most cost surprises.
Free tier available
Free tier available
Qwen3.5-397B MoE vs GLM-5.1 (744B MoE / 40B active)
| Benchmark | Qwen (Alibaba) | GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 83.5% | 81.2% |
| GPQA Diamond | 78.2% | 74.5% |
| HumanEval | 92.5% | 89.1% |
| SWE-Bench Verified | 69.4% | 64.2% |
The decision
Use-case anchors and category strengths, side by side.
Developers who want frontier-tier open weights with Apache 2.0 licensing. Qwen3-Coder-Next is arguably the best local coding model; Qwen3.5-397B is a top-3 open generalist.
Visit Qwen (Alibaba)Teams that need genuine MIT-licensed frontier open weights with no commercial strings. Especially strong for agentic workflows and vision (GLM-4.6V).
Visit GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI)Bottom line
Qwen (Alibaba) edges out GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) by 0.8 points (8.8 vs 8.0) -- a A-tier vs A-tier split that's narrow but real. Not a blowout; both belong on a shortlist. The score gap shows up most clearly in the categories that matter for Qwen (Alibaba)'s strengths, so if those categories are your priority, the lead translates.
Pricing-wise, both tools have a free tier (Qwen (Alibaba) starts $0, GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) starts $0), so you can test either without committing. Compare what each free tier actually unlocks -- usage caps, model access, and feature gates differ a lot more than the headline price suggests, especially as both vendors have tightened limits in 2026.
By use case: pick Qwen (Alibaba) when developers who want frontier-tier open weights with apache 2. Pick GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) when teams that need genuine mit-licensed frontier open weights with no commercial strings. The two tools aren't fighting for the same person -- they're aiming at adjacent jobs that occasionally overlap. If you're squarely in Qwen (Alibaba)'s lane, the tier-list ranking and the use-case fit point the same direction; if you're in GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI)'s lane, the score gap matters less than the fit.
Bottom line: Qwen (Alibaba) is the safer default for most readers, but GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) is competitive enough that the tie-breaker is your specific workload, not the spec sheet.
Keep digging
Full Qwen (Alibaba) review
Tier A · 8.8/10
Full GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) review
Tier A · 8.0/10
Qwen (Alibaba) alternatives
Other tools in this lane
GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) alternatives
Other tools in this lane
Built from our daily AI-tool sweep, last touched April 27, 2026. Honest tier-list reviews — no affiliate-link pieces disguised as advice. See the rubric or how we review.