API cost decision in 10 seconds

GLM 5 Turbo vs Qwen3.5-27B

Pick Qwen3.5-27B when budget and context both matter.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-26T11:08:00Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Qwen3.5-27B when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-27B is estimated at $0.98 vs $3.2 for GLM 5 Turbo, saving $2.23 (69.5% lower).

Cost-first pickQwen3.5-27B

Context-first pickQwen3.5-27B

Sample savings$2.2369.5%

10x traffic gap$22.25

Qwen3.5-27B is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $22.25. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Qwen3.5-27B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	GLM 5 Turbo	Qwen3.5-27B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Qwen3.5-27B	$8	$1.75
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Qwen3.5-27B	$5.2	$1.76
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Qwen3.5-27B	$21.2	$8

Cheaper input Qwen3.5-27B $1.2 vs $0.195 / 1M

Qwen3.5-27B is $1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (83.7% lower; 6.15x difference).

Cheaper output Qwen3.5-27B $4 vs $1.56 / 1M

Qwen3.5-27B is $2.44 cheaper per 1M output tokens (61% lower; 2.56x difference).

Larger context Qwen3.5-27B 202.75K vs 262.14K

Qwen3.5-27B has 59.39K more context (1.29x larger).

Sample workload Qwen3.5-27B $3.2 vs $0.98

Qwen3.5-27B is $2.23 cheaper on the standard workload (69.5% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

GLM 5 Turbo Calculating… Estimated API cost

Qwen3.5-27B 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

Qwen3.5-27B has the lower input price; Qwen3.5-27B has the lower output price; Qwen3.5-27B offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Qwen3.5-27B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $3.2 for GLM 5 Turbo and $0.98 for Qwen3.5-27B.

Best Fit

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

Choose Qwen3.5-27B when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-27B is estimated at $0.98 vs $3.2 for GLM 5 Turbo, saving $2.23 (69.5% lower).
Qwen3.5-27B is $2.23 cheaper on the standard workload (69.5% lower).
Qwen3.5-27B is $1 cheaper per 1M input tokens (83.7% lower; 6.15x difference).
Qwen3.5-27B is $2.44 cheaper per 1M output tokens (61% lower; 2.56x difference).
Qwen3.5-27B has 59.39K more context (1.29x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	GLM 5 Turbo (Z.ai)	Qwen3.5-27B (Qwen)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$1.2	$0.195
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$4	$1.56
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$3.2	$0.98
Context Window	202.75K	262.14K
Release Date	2026-03-15	2026-02-25

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Qwen3.5-27B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Qwen3.5-27B is estimated at $0.98 vs $3.2 for GLM 5 Turbo, saving $2.23 (69.5% lower).
High-volume input processing	Qwen3.5-27B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Qwen3.5-27B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Qwen3.5-27B	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 5 Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
GLM 4 32B can replace GLM 5 Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.15.
GLM 4.7 Flash can replace GLM 5 Turbo when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.26.
GLM 4.5 Air can replace GLM 5 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.
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite offers 1.05M context with $1 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

No popular competitor is currently available.

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

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Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

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Provider catalogs

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Z.ai catalog

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Qwen catalog

Check other Qwen models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

Open Qwen models

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