API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs 🔥GLM 5.1

Pick GLM 5.1 for lower cost; pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-15T02:08:14Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick GLM 5.1 for lower cost; pick Claude Sonnet 4.6 only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GLM 5.1 is estimated at $2.52 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $7.98 (76% lower).

Cost-first pickGLM 5.1

Context-first pickClaude Sonnet 4.6

Sample savings$7.9876%

10x traffic gap$79.8

Claude Sonnet 4.6 has more context, but GLM 5.1 saves $7.98 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $79.8. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cheaper input GLM 5.1 $3 vs $0.98 / 1M

GLM 5.1 is $2.02 cheaper per 1M input tokens (67.3% lower; 3.06x difference).

Cheaper output GLM 5.1 $15 vs $3.08 / 1M

GLM 5.1 is $11.92 cheaper per 1M output tokens (79.5% lower; 4.87x difference).

Larger context Claude Sonnet 4.6 1M vs 202.75K

Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 797.25K more context (4.93x larger).

Sample workload GLM 5.1 $10.5 vs $2.52

GLM 5.1 is $7.98 cheaper on the standard workload (76% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Claude Sonnet 4.6 Calculating… Estimated API cost

GLM 5.1 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

GLM 5.1 has the lower input price; GLM 5.1 has the lower output price; Claude Sonnet 4.6 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, GLM 5.1 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6 and $2.52 for GLM 5.1.

Best Fit

Choose Claude Sonnet 4.6 when you care most about larger context window.

Choose GLM 5.1 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GLM 5.1 is estimated at $2.52 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $7.98 (76% lower).
GLM 5.1 is $7.98 cheaper on the standard workload (76% lower).
GLM 5.1 is $2.02 cheaper per 1M input tokens (67.3% lower; 3.06x difference).
GLM 5.1 is $11.92 cheaper per 1M output tokens (79.5% lower; 4.87x difference).
Claude Sonnet 4.6 has 797.25K more context (4.93x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic)	🔥GLM 5.1 (Z.ai)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$3	$0.98
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$15	$3.08
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$10.5	$2.52
Context Window	1M	202.75K
Release Date	2026-02-17	2026-04-07
Popularity Rank current rank	#3	#20

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	GLM 5.1	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GLM 5.1 is estimated at $2.52 vs $10.5 for Claude Sonnet 4.6, saving $7.98 (76% lower).
High-volume input processing	GLM 5.1	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	GLM 5.1	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Claude Sonnet 4.6	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Claude 3 Haiku can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.88.
Claude 3.5 Haiku can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.8.
Anthropic Claude Haiku Latest can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.
Claude Haiku 4.5 can replace Claude Sonnet 4.6 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $3.5.

Larger context near this budget

Grok 4.1 Fast offers 2M context with $0.45 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4 Fast offers 2M context with $0.45 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

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Gemini 3 Flash Preview · Google · #5

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Anthropic catalog

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Z.ai catalog

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Claude Sonnet 4.6

Sonnet 4.6 is Anthropic's most capable Sonnet-class model yet, with frontier performance across coding, agents, and professional work. It excels at iterative development, complex codebase navigation, end-to-end project management with...

GLM 5.1

GLM-5.1 delivers a major leap in coding capability, with particularly significant gains in handling long-horizon tasks. Unlike previous models built around minute-level interactions, GLM-5.1 can work independently and continuously on...