API cost decision in 10 seconds

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) vs GLM 5V Turbo

Pick Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) when budget and context both matter.

Pricing data updated:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is estimated at $0 vs $3.2 for GLM 5V Turbo, saving $3.2 (100% lower).

Cost-first pickGemma 4 26B A4B (free)
Context-first pickGemma 4 26B A4B (free)
Sample savings$3.2100%
10x traffic gap$32

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $32. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickGemma 4 26B A4B (free)GLM 5V Turbo
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputGemma 4 26B A4B (free)$0$8
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputGemma 4 26B A4B (free)$0$5.2
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputGemma 4 26B A4B (free)$0$21.2
Cheaper input Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) $0 vs $1.2 / 1M

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is free for input tokens while GLM 5V Turbo costs $1.2 per 1M tokens.

Cheaper output Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) $0 vs $4 / 1M

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is free for output tokens while GLM 5V Turbo costs $4 per 1M tokens.

Larger context Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) 262.14K vs 202.75K

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) has 59.39K more context (1.29x larger).

Sample workload Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) $0 vs $3.2

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $3.2.

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) Calculating… Estimated API cost
GLM 5V Turbo 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

Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) has the lower input price; Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) has the lower output price; Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0 for Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) and $3.2 for GLM 5V Turbo.

Best Fit

Choose Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose GLM 5V Turbo when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is estimated at $0 vs $3.2 for GLM 5V Turbo, saving $3.2 (100% lower).
  • Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $3.2.
  • Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is free for input tokens while GLM 5V Turbo costs $1.2 per 1M tokens.
  • Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is free for output tokens while GLM 5V Turbo costs $4 per 1M tokens.
  • Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) has 59.39K more context (1.29x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
FeatureGemma 4 26B A4B (free)
(Google)
GLM 5V Turbo
(Z.ai)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M
$0$1.2
Completion Price
per 1M tokens
$0$4
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output
$0$3.2
Context Window262.14K202.75K
Release Date

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productionGemma 4 26B A4B (free)On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) is estimated at $0 vs $3.2 for GLM 5V Turbo, saving $3.2 (100% lower).
High-volume input processingGemma 4 26B A4B (free)Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsGemma 4 26B A4B (free)Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workGemma 4 26B A4B (free)A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps
  • GLM 4.5 Air (free) can replace GLM 5V Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • GLM 4 32B can replace GLM 5V Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.15.
  • GLM 4.7 Flash can replace GLM 5V Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.26.
  • GLM 4.5 Air can replace GLM 5V Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.55.
Larger context near this budget
Popular competitors
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Cheaper alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Google catalog

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Z.ai catalog

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Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)

Gemma 4 26B A4B IT is an instruction-tuned Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) model from Google DeepMind. Despite 25.2B total parameters, only 3.8B activate per token during inference — delivering near-31B quality at...

GLM 5V Turbo

GLM-5V-Turbo is Z.ai’s first native multimodal agent foundation model, built for vision-based coding and agent-driven tasks. It natively handles image, video, and text inputs, excels at long-horizon planning, complex coding,...