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GLM-4.5 vs Yi-Lightning

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

GLM-4.5 specs · Yi-Lightning specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceYi-Lightning

    Yi-Lightning publishes pricing ($0.14 / 1M output tokens) while GLM-4.5 does not.

  • Context windowGLM-4.5

    GLM-4.5 accepts 128K tokens vs 16K, 8.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesGLM-4.5

    GLM-4.5 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Yi-Lightning.

  • OpennessGLM-4.5

    GLM-4.5 ships open weights (MIT); Yi-Lightning is API-only.

On balance GLM-4.5 edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Yi-Lightning's 1. Yi-Lightning publishes pricing ($0.14 / 1M output tokens) while GLM-4.5 does not. GLM-4.5 accepts 128K tokens vs 16K, 8.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, GLM-4.5 handles text, vision while Yi-Lightning handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. GLM-4.5 ships open weights (MIT); Yi-Lightning is API-only.

GLM-4.5 is the newer of the two, released 10 months after Yi-Lightning, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GLM-4.5 is usually picked for chinese llm and open source llm workloads, while Yi-Lightning sees more deployments in chinese llm and cheapest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGLM-4.5Yi-Lightning
ProviderOtherOther
ReleasedJul 2025Oct 2024
Modalitiestext, visiontext
Context window128K tokens16K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1MPricing not published$0.14 / 1M tokens
Output · 1MPricing not published$0.14 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (MIT)No
API availableYesYes

Pricing at scale

What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day, vs $0.630
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $6.30
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $21.84

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • GLM-4.5Pricing unavailable
  • Yi-Lightning$0.021

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick GLM-4.5 if

GLM-4.5 fits when…

  • MIT license
  • Strong Chinese
  • Multimodal
  • Long-context tasks, handles 128K tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (MIT).
Pick Yi-Lightning if

Yi-Lightning fits when…

  • Cheap
  • Strong Chinese
  • Fast
Don't want either?

Consider DBRX

Databricks' 132B MoE, a notable 2024 open-weight release tuned for enterprise.

See DBRX specsGLM-4.5 vs DBRXYi-Lightning vs DBRX

Frequently asked

  • Is GLM-4.5 or Yi-Lightning cheaper?
    Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    GLM-4.5 accepts 128K tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
  • Is GLM-4.5 or Yi-Lightning better for coding?
    Both GLM-4.5 and Yi-Lightning are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.
  • Are either of these models open source?
    GLM-4.5 ships open weights (MIT). Yi-Lightning is API-only.
  • When were GLM-4.5 and Yi-Lightning released?
    GLM-4.5 was released by Other on 2025-07-28. Yi-Lightning was released by Other on 2024-10-16.
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