GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) vs Perplexity Comet
Which one should you pick? Here's the full breakdown.
GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI)
Zhipu AI's open-weights family -- GLM-5.1 (launched 2026-04-07) is 744B MoE / 40B active, topped SWE-Bench Pro at 58.4 (beating GPT-5.4 and Claude Opus 4.6), MIT licensed, 200K context. Trained entirely on 100K Huawei Ascend 910B chips -- first frontier model with zero Nvidia in the training stack
Perplexity Comet
Perplexity's agentic AI browser -- FREE on all platforms as of 2026-03-18 (previously $200/mo Max-only). iOS, Android, Windows, Mac. Browses the web, executes multi-step tasks, and summarizes pages in-line. Comet Plus ($5/mo) adds premium publisher content
| Category | GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) | Perplexity Comet |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 6.5 | 8.0 |
| Output Quality | 8.5 | 8.0 |
| Value | 9.0 | 9.5 |
| Features | 8.0 | 8.0 |
| Overall | 8.0 | 8.4 |
Pricing Comparison
| Feature | GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) | Perplexity Comet |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Starting Price | $0 | $0 |
Benchmark Head-to-Head
GLM-5.1 (744B MoE / 40B active) benchmarks — Perplexity Comet has no published benchmarks
| Benchmark | Description | Score |
|---|---|---|
| SWE-Bench Pro | 58.4% | |
| MMLU-Pro | Harder multi-subject reasoning | 81.2% |
| GPQA Diamond | Graduate-level science questions | 74.5% |
| HumanEval | Python code generation | 89.1% |
| SWE-Bench Verified | 64.2% | |
| BFCL (function calling) | 88% |
Which Should You Pick?
Pick GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) if...
Teams that need genuine MIT-licensed frontier open weights with no commercial strings. Especially strong for agentic workflows and vision (GLM-4.6V).
Visit GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI)Pick Perplexity Comet if...
- ✓Easier to use (8 vs 6.5)
Users who already use Perplexity for search and want an agent browser that can complete multi-step tasks (booking, research, shopping, document summarization) across tabs. Also a strong introduction to the AI-browser category for anyone curious but unwilling to pay $200/mo for a preview -- the 2026-03-18 free rollout makes evaluation risk-free.
Visit Perplexity CometOur Verdict
Perplexity Comet edges out GLM / Z.ai (Zhipu AI) with a 8.4 vs 8.0 overall score. Both are solid picks, but Perplexity Comet has the advantage in value.