Kimi vs Z.ai

Kimi

• Turning research into slide decks, reports and spreadsheets
• Agent work that runs many subtasks in parallel
• Developers who want a coding agent in the terminal or IDE

Z.ai

• People who want a free assistant built on the GLM models
• Generating slide decks and small web projects from a prompt
• Developers who also want GLM quota in coding tools like Claude Code

Kimi

• The free Adagio plan is limited to 1 concurrent agent task, 2 scheduled tasks, 2 projects and 500MB of project storage.
• Goal mode and Kimi Claw deployment start at Pro, and the 1M-token context is listed only on Max and Ultra.
• Kimi Work runs on Windows and Apple-silicon Macs; on Intel-based Macs the desktop app supports Kimi Chat only.
• Work mode conversations stay on the desktop where they were created; only Chat mode conversations sync to web and mobile.

Z.ai

• Paid tiers are the GLM Coding Plan, which the docs limit to supported coding and agent tools; what a tier adds in the chat app beyond higher agent limits is not documented.
• Free usage limits are not published: the app only reports that the agent quota is exhausted and when to retry.
• The chat assistant is a web app only: Z.ai's pages list no mobile app for it, and none appeared in US App Store or Google Play searches when checked.
• Subscriptions renew automatically and are non-refundable once purchased, and team plans need at least 2 seats.

Kimi

Deep Research and Agent Swarm

Runs research as an agent task. Agent Swarm splits large jobs such as literature reviews or long industry reports across parallel sub-agents.

Slides, documents and spreadsheets

Generates formatted presentations in the visual style of references you upload, and its Office agent works across PPT, Word, Excel and PDF files.

Kimi Work on the desktop

The desktop app reads and creates files in local folders, automates web tasks with a browser agent and adds dashboards, plugins and scheduled tasks.

Website building

Builds a website from a prompt. Paid plans include website deployment, and the plan cards list publishing sites with database support.

Kimi Code

A coding agent for the terminal and for IDEs including VS Code, Cursor, Zed and JetBrains. The pricing table marks it as available on the paid plans.

Scheduled tasks and plugins

Scheduled tasks run automatically and push results: 2 on Adagio, rising to 25 on Ultra. Plugins connect professional financial and economic databases.

Z.ai

GLM models with Deep Think

Chat runs on Z.ai's own GLM models, with GLM-5.3 set as the default in the public configuration, and has a Deep Think option. The same models are sold per token through Z.ai's API platform.

Search and Deep Research

Search runs a single quick round and Advanced Search runs multi-round research, reporting the keywords searched and sources referenced. Deep Research is listed as a separate tool.

AI Slides

Generates slide decks from a prompt, lets you edit individual slides and their style, and exports the result as PPTX, PDF or images.

Full-Stack mode

Builds a web project in a cloud workspace with code view and live preview, then deploys it to a public URL. The app advertises full-stack generation as free.

Vision and file tools

Accepts PDF, DOCX and PPTX documents and JPG or PNG images up to 50 MB each and MP4 video up to 200 MB, with tools such as OCR Scan, Math Solve, Video Understanding and Data Insight.

AI Intern (beta)

A cloud-hosted agent with synced context memory that runs scheduled and long-running tasks and can be connected to Feishu, Discord and WeChat.

Kimi

• Adagio$0

  1 concurrent agent task, 2 scheduled tasks, 2 projects and 500MB of project storage.

• Plus$15

  per month, billed annually ($180); $19 billed monthly

  More agent credits, 2 concurrent agent tasks, Deep Research, website deployment, Kimi Code, Swarm, 10 scheduled tasks and 20GB of project storage.

• Pro$31

  per month, billed annually ($372); $39 billed monthly

  2x agent credits, Goal mode, one-click Kimi Claw deployment, 15 scheduled tasks and 20 projects.

• Max$79

  per month, billed annually ($948); $99 billed monthly

  5x agent credits, up to 1M tokens of context, 20 scheduled tasks, 100 projects and 50GB of project storage.

• Ultra$159

  per month, billed annually ($1,908); $199 billed monthly

  10x agent credits, 4 concurrent agent tasks, 25 scheduled tasks, 100 projects and 50GB of project storage.

Z.ai

• Free$0

  Chat with GLM models at no charge. Signing in unlocks advanced models, and agent use is capped by a quota whose size is not published.

• Lite$18

  per month, or $151.20 billed yearly ($12.60 a month)

  GLM Coding Plan entry tier: 2,000 credits per 5 hours and 10,000 a week for GLM-5.3 and GLM-5.3-Flash in supported coding tools.

• Pro$80

  per month, or $672 billed yearly ($56 a month)

  GLM Coding Plan with 6x Lite usage (12,000 credits per 5 hours, 60,000 a week), priority access to new flagship models and faster generation.

• Standard Seat (Team)$88

  per seat / month, minimum 2 seats

  GLM Coding Team Plan: 15,000 credits per 5 hours and 66,000 a week per seat, with seat management, usage insights and central billing.

• Max$168

  per month, or $1,411.20 billed yearly ($117.60 a month)

  GLM Coding Plan with 14x Lite usage (28,000 credits per 5 hours, 140,000 a week), first access to new models and dedicated resources at peak times.

• Premium Seat (Team)$188

  per seat / month, minimum 2 seats

  Team seat with 35,000 credits per 5 hours and 155,000 a week, plus early access to new flagship models and priority at peak hours.

Kimi

• Annual discount

  Up to $480 a year off with annual billing

  Kimi's pricing page prices annual billing at $15, $31, $79 and $159 a month against $19, $39, $99 and $199 billed monthly, and states a saving of up to $480.

Z.ai

• Annual discount

  30% off yearly billing, 20% off quarterly

  Lite, Pro and Max cost 30% less on a continuous yearly subscription ($12.60, $56 and $117.60 a month) and 20% less on a quarterly one, compared with the monthly prices.