GLM-4.5-Air vs Apertus 8B
Apertus 8B comes out ahead, 56 to 49 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Z.ai (Zhipu)GLM-4.5-Air
49/100- ECI—
- Price$0.20 / $1.10
- Context131K
- Our pick
Swiss AI
Apertus 8B
56/100- ECI—
- Price$0.10 / $0.20
- Context66K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Apertus 8B is our pick
Apertus 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against GLM-4.5-Air (49). It leads on price. GLM-4.5-Air wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceApertus 8BApertus 8B $0.125 · GLM-4.5-Air $0.425 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGLM-4.5-AirGLM-4.5-Air 131,072 · Apertus 8B 65,536 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsGLM-4.5-Air: Text · Apertus 8B: Text
- Self-hostingAll open weightsEvery model here can be downloaded and run on your own hardware
| Measure | Weight | GLM-4.5-Air | Apertus 8B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 68 | 93 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 12 |
| Overall | 100% | 49/100 | 56/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GLM-4.5-AirZ.ai (Zhipu) | Apertus 8BSwiss AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.20 | $0.10 (best) |
| Output | $1.10 | $0.20 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.03 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.425 | $0.125 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Z.AI API | Median of 1 providers |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens (best) | 65,536 tokens |
| Max output | 98,304 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Open | OpenApache-2.0 |
| API model ID | glm-4.5-air | — |
| API providers | 13 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jul 28, 2025 | Sep 2, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2025 | Sep 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- GLM-4.5-Air$4.20
- Apertus 8B$1.40
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GLM-4.5-Air or Apertus 8B?
Apertus 8B is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against GLM-4.5-Air (49). It leads on price. GLM-4.5-Air wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, GLM-4.5-Air or Apertus 8B?
Apertus 8B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.20 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). GLM-4.5-Air costs $0.20 input / $1.10 output per million tokens (official Z.AI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.125 per million tokens for Apertus 8B versus $0.425 for GLM-4.5-Air (3.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. GLM-4.5-Air has not been scored yet and Apertus 8B has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GLM-4.5-Air and Apertus 8B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
GLM-4.5-Air has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 65,536 for Apertus 8B. Maximum output per response: GLM-4.5-Air up to 98,304, Apertus 8B up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GLM-4.5-Air accepts text; Apertus 8B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
Yes, both publish their weights (Apache-2.0), so you can self-host them.
Which is newer?
Apertus 8B is the newest, released Sep 2, 2025. GLM-4.5-Air came out Jul 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GLM-4.5-Air Apr 2025, Apertus 8B Sep 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
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