If you need slide decks from a short brief, Z.ai turns that prompt into an editable draft presentation.
Verdict: buy it only if you want fast drafts and will polish outputs; it hinges on $18/month, cheaper than Claude.
Who it's for
You’re a creator who wants fast drafts of slides, code snippets, or short documents and can do light editing. You’re likely to be disappointed if you need flawless final text, consistent model quality, or enterprise-grade SLAs.
Buy it if
- You turn briefs into slide decks and need a quick editable draft to start from.
- You run content alone and want fast outlines, blog drafts, or email copy you can polish.
- You build or debug small code snippets and want instant explanations or example scripts.
Skip it if
- You need final, publication-ready copy that requires no editing.
- You run an agency that depends on strict uptime, consistent model quality, or SLAs.
- You require explicit guarantees that your prompts and content are never used to improve the service.
Your first hour
Sign up with email, Google, or GitHub and start a free chat immediately; public trial credits must be requested from Z.ai.
- Create account Create an account via email, Google or GitHub; the service collects basic account details.
- Open chat Start a free chat and receive a first usable reply in seconds for a slide outline, email, or code snippet.
- Try AI Slides Use the AI Slides template to generate a draft slide deck from a short prompt in under a minute.
- Request credits Request trial or higher-volume credits from support since public free-credit grants are not shown on the pricing page.
Expect a short learning curve for basic drafts and more time to master high-volume or production workflows.
What you actually get per plan
Z.ai publishes named monthly plans and documents three paid tiers. Trial credits are not shown on the public pricing page and must be requested from support.
Team and enterprise plans are quote-only, with per-seat credit bundles listed in docs but no public prices; most solo creators will start on the Lite plan because it covers light drafting and small-code tasks without an immediate upgrade.
| Plan | Price | What’s inside | Catch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lite Plan | $18/month | 2,000 5-hour credits; 10,000 weekly credits; 100 web searches/month | No refunds |
| Pro Plan | $80/month | 12,000 5-hour credits; 60,000 weekly credits; 1,000 web searches/month | No refunds |
| Max Plan | $168/month | 28,000 5-hour credits; 140,000 weekly credits; 4,000 web searches/month | No refunds |
Three real situations
Here are three real users and what Z.ai does for them.
A freelance copywriter with three retainer clients
They use the Lite plan at $18/month to generate outlines and draft emails, saving about 8 hours a month.
A two-person Shopify store
They use Z.ai for product descriptions and small site code fixes and stay under the 100 web searches monthly limit.
A 5-person marketing agency
Z.ai produces inconsistent outputs for a 5-seat team. Skip it and use ChatGPT team or hire a writer instead.
Where it falls short
Reviewers report quality problems such as a “massive drop in response quality”, “slow and unintelligent” replies, and “gibberish output”. Z.ai has also been accused of the model entering “reasoning loops” and producing inconsistent outputs that need manual polishing. Those reports contrast with the vendor’s claims and make Z.ai a weaker pick than some rivals for critical tasks.
The vendor’s policy forbids refunds after purchase, which hurts freelancers paying on a personal card. Cancellation needs advance notice; cancel three days before billing to avoid renewal. Trial credits aren’t automatic; you must request them, which blocks quick free testing. Hard rate limits and credit buckets can throttle heavy workflows and hurt high-volume users. Z.ai may aggregate and use your content to improve the service, which risks sensitive-data misuse for some businesses. No public security certifications appear, which hurts teams needing formal compliance.
Watch out: Refunds are not supported after purchase and you must cancel days before renewal to avoid charges.
Common questions
Is there a free plan?
You can start a free chat and some GLM models are priced at $0 for input and output. A named free subscription plan is not published; trial credits must be requested.
Can I cancel at any time?
Yes.
Cancel from the Subscription page, but Z.ai says cancel at least three days before the next billing date to avoid renewal.
Do I get a refund if I change my mind?
No.
Refunds are not supported once a subscription is purchased.
Does Z.ai train on my data?
Z.ai collects user content and may use anonymized data to improve the service.
For API customers, see the Data Processing Addendum.
What is the cheapest way to try Z.ai?
Start a free chat on the site.
Ask support for trial credits because public free-credit grants are not shown on the pricing page.
Bottom line
Buy it only if you are a solo creator who needs fast slide drafts or code snippets and will edit them. Pay the Lite plan at $18/month, but refunds are not offered after purchase and outputs can be inconsistent.
