GLM 5 Turbo
Z.ai's speed-optimized agentic model with selectable reasoning modes, native tool calling, and a 200K context window for OpenClaw workflows.
Overview
What is GLM 5 Turbo
GLM 5 Turbo is Z.ai's speed-optimized agentic language model, released in March 2026. It offers selectable reasoning modes, native tool calling, and a 200K context window for multi-step OpenClaw workflows, trading some deliberation depth for faster throughput and lower latency than the base GLM-5.
Running it privately on Venice
On Venice, GLM 5 Turbo runs under an anonymized privacy tier with zero retention — your prompts are not stored or used for training. You get its agentic tool use, reasoning modes, and code-optimized output without Big-Tech surveillance, paying only per token with no subscription required.
Assessment
Strengths and limitations
- Native OpenClaw optimization with function calling, reasoning, web search, and structured JSON output for agentic workflows.
- Selectable thinking modes let you trade speed for depth per request.
- 200K context window and 32K max output support long documents and multi-turn chains.
- Open weights enable inspection and permissionless deployment.
- Code-optimized generation and fast throughput make it practical for production software pipelines.
- Proprietary turbo tuning on top of the open GLM-5 base means the exact checkpoint and training mix are controlled by Z.ai.
- Trades some reasoning depth for speed compared to the base GLM-5.
- Context window is smaller than 1M-token frontier rivals.
- Not uncensored; includes safety alignment that may limit certain outputs.
- Can require careful system prompting to avoid looping in long agent chains.
- Lacks full multimodal capabilities (text-only).
Capabilities
What it supports
- Tool use / function calling
- Vision (image input)
- Reasoning
- Web search
- Code-optimized
- Structured output (JSON schema)
- Audio input
- Video input
- Multiple image inputs
- Log probabilities
Specifications
Datasheet
- Maker
- Z.ai
- Released
- March 2026
- Architecture
- Mixture of Experts (MoE)
- Parameters
- 744B total / 40B active per token
- Open weights
- Yes
- Context window
- 200K tokens
- Max output
- 32.768K tokens
- Capabilities
- Function calling, Reasoning, Web search, Code-optimized
- Privacy on Venice
- Anonymized — prompts not stored
- Available on Venice since
- Mar 2026
API
Call it from your code
Venice exposes an OpenAI-compatible API. Point your base URL at Venice and pass the model id.
curl https://api.venice.ai/api/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VENICE_API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "z-ai-glm-5-turbo",
"messages": [{ "role": "user", "content": "Explain quantum tunneling simply." }]
}'Pricing
What it costs on Venice
Billed per token on Venice: $1.20 per 1M input tokens and $4 per 1M output tokens.
New Venice accounts include a free daily allowance and 500 welcome credits — no credit card required.
Alternatives
How it compares
| Model | Context window | Open weights | Strongest at | Price (Venice) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GLM 5 Turbo | 200K tokens | Yes | Agentic tool use & coding | $1.20 in · $4 out / 1M |
| DeepSeek V3.2 | 160K tokens | Yes | General reasoning & value | $0.33 in · $0.48 out / 1M |
| GLM 5.1 | 200K tokens | Yes | Balanced GLM-5 generation | $1.10 in · $4.15 out / 1M |
| Kimi K2.6 | 256K tokens | Yes | Long-context coding | $0.75 in · $3.50 out / 1M |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | 1M tokens | No | Enterprise agents | $3.60 in · $18 out / 1M |
Speed-optimized agentic model with selectable reasoning modes and native tool calling.
Use cases
What it is good for
- 01Multi-step agent workflows and OpenClaw automation requiring tool use and persistent execution.
- 02Coding assistants and software engineering with structured output and reasoning modes.
- 03High-throughput RAG and document processing within 200K contexts.
- 04MCP tool integration and external API orchestration.
- 05Real-time streaming applications where low latency matters.
Prompting
Getting better results
Route routine pipeline steps to a lighter thinking mode and escalate hard problems to deeper reasoning.
Use explicit JSON schema mode for reliable structured outputs in agent loops.
Provide specific system prompts to prevent looping in multi-step tool chains.
Leverage function calling definitions to improve tool invocation accuracy.
Version history
Open-source base flagship.
Speed-optimized agentic variant.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
GLM 5 Turbo is Z.ai's speed-optimized agentic language model, released in March 2026. It features selectable reasoning modes, native tool calling, web search, and a 200K context window for multi-step OpenClaw and coding workflows.
On Venice, GLM 5 Turbo costs $1.20 per million input tokens and $4 per million output tokens, with cached input at $0.24 per million. You pay per token with no subscription required.
You can try GLM 5 Turbo on Venice with included welcome credits. Heavier use is billed per token; there is no free unlimited tier.
Venice hosts GLM 5 Turbo with open weights, though the turbo variant is a proprietary tuning of the open-source GLM-5 base. You can inspect and experiment with the weights, but the checkpoint is maintained by Z.ai.
Yes. GLM 5 Turbo supports function calling, MCP tool integration, and structured JSON output, making it built for agentic workflows and external tool orchestration.
GLM 5 Turbo is optimized for agentic tool use and coding with selectable reasoning modes, while DeepSeek V3.2 offers lower cost and strong general reasoning. Choose Turbo for long-chain agent reliability; choose DeepSeek for budget-conscious workloads.
GLM 5 Turbo supports a 200K-token context window and up to 32,768 tokens of output per request.
Yes. GLM 5 Turbo supports web search on Venice, enabling real-time grounding for agent workflows and research tasks.
Run GLM 5 Turbo privately
No prompt logging. No data used for training.