Particle Ai lists 1 models and Z.ai 23. Particle Ai is cheaper on a typical model ($0.44 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Particle Ai | Z.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 1 | 23 |
| Models with published pricing | 1 | 23 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.44 | $0.88 |
| Cheapest paid model | Particle AI: Particle-1 ($0.44) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash ($0.05) |
| Longest context | Particle AI: Particle-1 (1.0M) | Z.ai: GLM 5.2 (1.0M) |
| Free models | 0 | 2 |
| Newest model | Particle AI: Particle-1 (2026-10-28) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime (2026-09-23) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 125 |
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | Particle Ai | Z.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $38.75 with Particle AI: Particle-1 | $4.66 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $40.00 with Particle AI: Particle-1 | $5.76 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | $42.00 with Particle AI: Particle-1 | $5.92 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $26.00 with Particle AI: Particle-1 | $3.79 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $13.50 with Particle AI: Particle-1 | $2.16 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash |
| You need | Particle Ai | Z.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Particle AI: Particle-1 ($0.44) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash ($0.05) |
| With tool calling | Particle AI: Particle-1 ($0.44) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash ($0.05) |
| With image input | Particle AI: Particle-1 ($0.44) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash ($0.05) |
| With reasoning mode | Particle AI: Particle-1 ($0.44) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash ($0.05) |
| 128K+ context | Particle AI: Particle-1 ($0.44) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash ($0.05) |
| 1M+ context | Particle AI: Particle-1 ($0.44) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash ($0.05) |
| Model type | Particle Ai | Z.ai |
|---|---|---|
| text+image+video->text | 0 | 5 |
| text+image->text | 1 | 1 |
| text->text | 0 | 17 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Particle Ai | Z.ai |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 2 |
| Under $0.50 | 1 | 7 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 0 | 13 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 1 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Particle Ai is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.44 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.88 for Z.ai. The cheapest paid models are Particle AI: Particle-1 at $0.44 and Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash at $0.05.
It depends on the job: Z.ai offers the broader line-up (1 models vs 23), Particle Ai the lower typical price. The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Z.ai: Particle Ai lists 1 models and Z.ai lists 23.
It is a tie: Particle Ai's longest is Particle AI: Particle-1 at 1.0M tokens; Z.ai's is Z.ai: GLM 5.2 at 1.0M.
Particle Ai: none. Z.ai: 2 free models (e.g. Z.ai: GLM 4.5 Air (free)).
Particle Ai: 1 of 1 models accept images. Z.ai: 6 of 23.