API cost decision in 10 seconds

Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) vs GLM 5V Turbo

Pick Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) for lower cost; pick GLM 5V Turbo only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T18:08:02Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) for lower cost; pick GLM 5V Turbo only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is estimated at $0 vs $3.2 for GLM 5V Turbo, saving $3.2 (100% lower).

Cost-first pickNemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)

Context-first pickGLM 5V Turbo

Sample savings$3.2100%

10x traffic gap$32

GLM 5V Turbo has more context, but Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) saves $3.2 on the standard workload. 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.

Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)	GLM 5V Turbo
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)	$0	$8
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)	$0	$5.2
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)	$0	$21.2

Cheaper input Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) $0 vs $1.2 / 1M

Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is free for input tokens while GLM 5V Turbo costs $1.2 per 1M tokens.

Cheaper output Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) $0 vs $4 / 1M

Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is free for output tokens while GLM 5V Turbo costs $4 per 1M tokens.

Larger context GLM 5V Turbo 128K vs 202.75K

GLM 5V Turbo has 74.75K more context (1.58x larger).

Sample workload Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) $0 vs $3.2

Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (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.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (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

Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) has the lower input price; Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) has the lower output price; GLM 5V Turbo offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0 for Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) and $3.2 for GLM 5V Turbo.

Best Fit

Choose Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Choose GLM 5V Turbo when you care most about larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is estimated at $0 vs $3.2 for GLM 5V Turbo, saving $3.2 (100% lower).
Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $3.2.
Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is free for input tokens while GLM 5V Turbo costs $1.2 per 1M tokens.
Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is free for output tokens while GLM 5V Turbo costs $4 per 1M tokens.
GLM 5V Turbo has 74.75K more context (1.58x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) (NVIDIA)	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 Window	128K	202.75K
Release Date	2025-10-28	2026-04-01
Popularity	#128	#136

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) is estimated at $0 vs $3.2 for GLM 5V Turbo, saving $3.2 (100% lower).
High-volume input processing	Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	GLM 5V Turbo	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

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

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Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

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Provider catalogs

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NVIDIA catalog

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Z.ai catalog

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Open Z.ai models

Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free)

NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 2 VL is a 12-billion-parameter open multimodal reasoning model designed for video understanding and document intelligence. It introduces a hybrid Transformer-Mamba architecture, combining transformer-level accuracy with Mamba’s...

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,...