Scaledown lists 2 models and Z Ai 23. Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model ($0.03 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Scaledown | Z Ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 2 | 23 |
| Models with published pricing | 2 | 23 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.03 | $0.90 |
| Cheapest paid model | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) ($0.10) |
| Longest context | ScaleDown: Extract (1M) | Z.ai: GLM 5.2 (1.0M) |
| Free models | 0 | 2 |
| Newest model | ScaleDown: Extract (2026-10-13) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Prime (2026-09-23) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 97 |
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) | Scaledown | Z Ai |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $3.00 with ScaleDown: Extract | $8.50 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $4.80 with ScaleDown: Extract | $9.20 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | no suitable model | $9.60 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $3.20 with ScaleDown: Extract | $6.00 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $2.00 with ScaleDown: Extract | $3.20 with Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) |
| You need | Scaledown | Z Ai |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) ($0.10) |
| With tool calling | none listed | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) ($0.10) |
| With image input | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) ($0.10) |
| With reasoning mode | none listed | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) ($0.10) |
| 128K+ context | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) ($0.10) |
| 1M+ context | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) | Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) ($0.10) |
| Model type | Scaledown | Z Ai |
|---|---|---|
| text+image+file->text | 2 | 0 |
| text+image+video->text | 0 | 5 |
| text+image->text | 0 | 1 |
| text->text | 0 | 17 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Scaledown | Z Ai |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 2 |
| Under $0.50 | 2 | 6 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 0 | 14 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 1 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.90 for Z Ai. The cheapest paid models are ScaleDown: Extract at $0.03 and Z.ai: GLM 5.3 Flash (batch) at $0.10.
It depends on the job: Z Ai offers the broader line-up (2 models vs 23), Scaledown the lower typical price, Z Ai the longest context (1.0M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Z Ai: Scaledown lists 2 models and Z Ai lists 23.
Z Ai: Scaledown's longest is ScaleDown: Extract at 1M tokens; Z Ai's is Z.ai: GLM 5.2 at 1.0M.
Scaledown: none. Z Ai: 2 free models (e.g. Z.ai: GLM 4.5 Air (free)).
Scaledown: 2 of 2 models accept images. Z Ai: 6 of 23.