Key Highlights
- #1 on SWE-Bench Pro: 58.4 score surpasses GPT-5.4, Claude Opus 4.6, and Gemini 3.1 Pro — first open-source model to top this benchmark
- Massive MoE Architecture: 744B total params / 256 experts / 8 active per token, ~40B effective compute
- Long-Horizon Tasks: Can autonomously execute a single coding task for up to 8 hours — planning, executing, testing, and optimizing in a continuous loop
- 200K Context Window: 200,000 token context, supports 128,000 token output
- Open Source + Cost-Effective: MIT licensed, API at $1.00/M input and $3.20/M output tokens
Background
On April 7, 2026, Zhipu Z.AI officially released its flagship open-source model GLM-5.1, a major upgrade to the GLM-5 series. On the rigorous SWE-Bench Pro coding benchmark, GLM-5.1 scored 58.4 — surpassing GPT-5.4, Claude Opus 4.6, and Gemini 3.1 Pro to become the new global leader, and the first open-source model to beat all closed-source flagships on this benchmark. GLM-5.1 is purpose-built for “agentic engineering” and “long-horizon software development.” It can autonomously work on a single coding task for up to 8 hours, continuously planning, executing, testing, and optimizing. The model was trained entirely on 100,000 Huawei Ascend 910B chips, showcasing the capability of domestic Chinese compute for frontier large-model training. API Yi now offersglm-5.1 with OpenAI-compatible API access.
Detailed Analysis
Core Features
SWE-Bench Pro #1
58.4 score beats all closed-source flagships, the first open-source model to top SWE-Bench Pro
744B MoE Architecture
744B total / 256 experts / 8 active, ~40B effective compute, balancing performance and efficiency
8-Hour Long-Horizon Tasks
Autonomously handle a single coding task for up to 8 hours — full plan/execute/test/optimize loop
MIT License
Weights on HuggingFace and ModelScope, with vLLM and SGLang inference support
Benchmark Performance
| Benchmark | GLM-5.1 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-Bench Pro | 58.4 | Global #1, beats GPT-5.4 / Claude Opus 4.6 / Gemini 3.1 Pro |
| Terminal-Bench 2.0 | 63.5 | Top-tier terminal operations |
| NL2Repo | 42.7 | Repo-level code generation |
| CyberGym | 68.7 | Security coding benchmark |
| BrowseComp | 68.0 | Browser agent tasks |
| vs GLM-5 | +28% | Major coding capability jump over predecessor |
Data sources: Zhipu Z.AI official docs (
docs.z.ai), Dataconomy, Z.AI developer docs. GLM-5.1 was officially released on April 7, 2026, with independent benchmark results updated the same day.- vs Claude Opus 4.6: GLM-5.1 (58.4) beats Opus 4.6 (47.9) on coding benchmarks, achieving 94.6%–122% performance levels
- vs GPT-5.4 / Gemini 3.1 Pro: GLM-5.1 surpasses both on SWE-Bench Pro
- Price advantage: API pricing significantly lower than closed-source flagships, exceptional cost-effectiveness
Technical Specifications
| Parameter | GLM-5.1 |
|---|---|
| Architecture | MoE (Mixture of Experts) |
| Total Parameters | 744B |
| Expert Count | 256 (8 active per token) |
| Active Parameters | ~40B |
| Context Window | 200,000 tokens |
| Max Output | 128,000 tokens |
| Training Hardware | 100,000 Huawei Ascend 910B |
| License | MIT License |
| Model Name | glm-5.1 |
Practical Applications
Recommended Use Cases
Long-Horizon Coding
8-hour continuous coding tasks, ideal for complex refactoring, large feature development, automated code migration
Coding Agent
#1 on SWE-Bench Pro — an excellent open-source alternative to Claude Code, Cursor, and similar tools
Code Security Audit
CyberGym 68.7 security coding capability, suitable for code audits, vulnerability analysis, and security fixes
On-Premise Deployment
MIT-licensed open source — enterprises can download weights for local deployment with full data control
Code Examples
Best Practices
- Long-horizon coding: Pass the entire project codebase as context, let GLM-5.1 plan and execute refactoring autonomously
- Agent workflows: Leverage its BrowseComp 68.0 browser operation capability to build autonomous Web Agents
- On-premise: MIT license allows enterprises to deploy weights locally with vLLM or SGLang for efficient inference
Pricing & Availability
Pricing
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Input | $1.00 / M tokens |
| Output | $3.20 / M tokens |
Deposit Bonus
Current deposit bonus promotion is ongoing — the more you deposit, the bigger the bonus. See Deposit Promotions for details.Summary & Recommendations
GLM-5.1 is currently the most powerful open-source coding Agent model, beating all closed-source flagships on SWE-Bench Pro. The 744B MoE architecture delivers an excellent balance of performance and efficiency. With up to 8-hour long-horizon task execution + 200K context + MIT open-source licensing, it’s the ideal choice for coding agents, long-horizon code tasks, and enterprise on-premise deployments. Recommended for:- Developers and teams needing top-tier coding Agent capabilities
- Users seeking cost-effective open-source alternatives to Claude Opus / GPT-5.4
- Technical teams building long-horizon coding tasks and autonomous Agent workflows
- Enterprise users requiring on-premise deployment with full data control
Sources: Zhipu Z.AI official developer docs (
docs.z.ai), Dataconomy, TechBriefly, OpenRouter. Data retrieved: April 9, 2026. GLM-5.1 was trained entirely on domestic Huawei Ascend 910B chips.