A bar fills towards the model's side; yellow is a clear difference, grey falls within the margin of measurement.
| Criterion | DeepSeek | GLM (Z.ai) |
|---|---|---|
| Quality (Elo)Quality from blind duels on LMArena: users choose between two anonymous answers. A difference of about 20 points is noticeable, a few points is noise. How we measure | 1475 | 1483 |
| Editorial scoreOur own assessment on 10 of suitability for professional work, price and privacy. This is a judgement, not a measurement; that is why it always sits alongside the Elo. How we measure | 7,4 / 10 | 7,7 / 10 |
| Code EloThe same blind duels on LMArena, but only with programming tasks. How we measure | 1664 | 1622 |
| API price in, per 1M | $0.01 | $0.07 |
| API price out, per 1M | $0.5 | $1.4 |
| Entry price (subscription) | on request | $18 / month |
| Business | on request | on request |
| Context window | 1M tokens | 1M tokens |
| Modalities | Text, Code | Text, Image |
| EU hosting | No | No |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| No training (business) | No | No |
| GDPR profileOur summary of what the provider itself publishes about your data. For a professional tool: whether the data is stored in the EU, whether there is a certification or GDPR guarantee, and whether the provider is based in the Netherlands or the EU. For a general model: EU hosting, no training on your data and self-hosting. From Strong to Unknown; Caution only for a model with a documented problem. How we measure | Caution | Caution |
Source: LMArena, OpenRouter · retrieved 9 November 2026
Choose DeepSeek if…
- very low API costs matter to you
- open weights (MIT) and self-hosting matter to you
Choose GLM (Z.ai) if…
- top performance on coding and agent benchmarks at a fraction of the price matters to you
- a fully open-weight GLM-5.2 under the MIT licence matters to you
- you want the highest overall quality
Frequently asked questions
By field
Which is better: DeepSeek or GLM (Z.ai)?
On the combined quality score (LMArena Elo + our editorial score), GLM (Z.ai) ranks higher, but the right choice depends on your field and requirements: DeepSeek may suit you better on price or privacy. See the table above.
Which is better for privacy and GDPR: DeepSeek or GLM (Z.ai)?
They differ little (EU hosting, on-premise and no training on your data). DeepSeek: The DeepSeek service stores data in China and uses it for training by default (with opt-out). Only a self-hosted EU variant of the open weights is defensible for sensitive data.
Which is cheaper: DeepSeek or GLM (Z.ai)?
The entry prices are close together. Always check the current prices, as they change often.
Every Friday: what changed in AI for your field
New models, prices, oversight and tools, with sources and what it means for you. One email a week, unsubscribe with one click.