GLM 5.5: Release Date, What's Reported, and What to Expect

Zhipu AI (now branding itself as Z.ai) has one of the most closely watched open-weight roadmaps in AI, and the next step — widely referred to as GLM 5.5 — is generating real anticipation. But there's an important caveat up front: as of late July 2026, Z.ai has not officially announced GLM 5.5. There's no model card, no benchmarks, no pricing, and not even a confirmed name. What we do have is credible reporting about an August 2026 launch window and a very strong, well-documented baseline in GLM-5.2. This guide separates what's actually reported from what's speculation, and uses GLM-5.2 to set grounded expectations.

Every figure below is labeled by source. GLM 5.5 has no official specs; the concrete numbers here belong to GLM-5.2 (its predecessor) and are vendor-reported unless noted. Reporting on GLM 5.5 comes from analyst forecasts and press coverage, not Z.ai. Details will change — verify at launch.

TL;DR. GLM 5.5 is expected around August 2026, a window reported by JPMorgan analysts and carried by Reuters and CGTN — not a Z.ai commitment. Leaks point to a trillion-plus-parameter, coding-agent-focused open-weight model building on GLM-5.2's 1M-token context, but none of that is confirmed (even the name could end up being GLM-5.3 or GLM-6). The solid ground is GLM-5.2: a 753B MoE, MIT-licensed, 1M-context model that already ranks among the top open-weight systems for coding. Use GLM-5.2 today; adopting GLM 5.5 later is trivial on a vendor-neutral endpoint.

Key takeaways

• Not official yet. As of late July 2026, Z.ai has published no GLM 5.5 model card, specs, or pricing — and hasn't confirmed the name.

• Reported window: August 2026. Sourced to JPMorgan analysts via Reuters and CGTN (late June 2026) — a "watch window," not a vendor date.

• Rumored specs (unconfirmed): 1T+ parameters, 1M-token context carried from GLM-5.2, open weights, and a focus on long-running coding agents.

• The one direct signal: Zhipu's Tang Jie described an upcoming model as an "epic plus" in Chinese media — encouraging, but not a spec sheet.

• Solid baseline: GLM-5.2 (753B MoE, 1M context, MIT license) is a top open-weight coding model you can use right now.

What's actually reported (and by whom)

The August 2026 timing traces to a clear source chain: JPMorgan analysts reportedly forecast another Z.ai model for August 2026, which Reuters covered and CGTN republished in late June 2026. That's credible reporting, but it's an analyst forecast, not a Z.ai release note — so treat August as a watch window rather than a promise. The only direct signal from the company side is a comment from Zhipu co-founder Tang Jie, who described an upcoming improvement as an "epic plus" in Chinese media. That hints at meaningful work underway, but it doesn't name the model, confirm timing, or reveal specifications.

What's rumored — and why to hold it loosely

Community leaks circulating in mid-July 2026 describe a model with more than one trillion total parameters, a one-million-token context window carried over from GLM-5.2, open weights, and a heavy focus on long-running coding agents. Those are plausible given Zhipu's trajectory — but they're unconfirmed, and analysts themselves caution that a figure like "1T+ parameters" can't yet be used for hardware planning, pricing, or capability claims. Even the branding is uncertain: reporting has floated GLM-5.3, GLM 5.5, and GLM-6 as possible names. Anyone quoting hard GLM 5.5 benchmarks today is guessing.

The real baseline: what GLM-5.2 actually is

Because GLM 5.5 will build directly on it, GLM-5.2 is the best way to set expectations. Released in June 2026 under an MIT license, GLM-5.2 is a mixture-of-experts model with roughly 753 billion total parameters (about 40B active per token), a 1,000,000-token context window, and up to 131,072 output tokens, using Zhipu's "IndexShare" sparse-attention design. It's fully open-weight and self-hostable.

On vendor-reported benchmarks, GLM-5.2 is strong, especially at coding: about 62.1% on SWE-bench Pro, 81.0% on Terminal-Bench 2.1, 91.2% on GPQA Diamond, and a near-saturated 99.2% on AIME 2026, along with 77.8% on SWE-bench Verified (top among open-source models). It's also cheap — roughly $1.20 per million input tokens and $4.10 per million output — and Zhipu claims it beats GPT-5.5 on several long-horizon coding benchmarks at a fraction of the cost. The honest counterweight: independent composites tend to score below vendor numbers, and on the hardest general-reasoning tasks GLM-5.2 trails the closed frontier and even some open peers. Still, as an open-weight coding workhorse, it's a genuine top-tier option today.

What to reasonably expect from GLM 5.5 (labeled as expectation)

With no official specs, any expectation is inference. But grounded inferences from the GLM-5.1 → GLM-5.2 arc and the leaks: expect GLM 5.5 to push further on agentic and long-horizon coding (Zhipu's clear priority), likely keep the 1M-token context, very likely remain open-weight (GLM-5.2 was MIT, though a successor's license is never guaranteed), and probably scale parameters up — perhaps into the trillion-plus range. What we should not assume: specific benchmark scores, confirmed pricing, native vision, or even the final name. Treat "bigger, more agentic, still open, still cheap" as a hypothesis to verify at launch, not a fact.

How to prepare — and what to use today

Don't stall a project waiting for a model that isn't out. GLM-5.2 is available now and is an excellent open-weight coding model, and if you build against a vendor-neutral, OpenAI-compatible endpoint, adopting GLM 5.5 whenever it lands is a configuration change rather than a re-integration. OrcaRouter exposes GLM-5.2 today through a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint alongside many other models, so you can ship on GLM-5.2 now and A/B test GLM 5.5 the moment it's live — then let independent benchmarks and your own tests decide whether to switch.

How to read the launch when it happens

When GLM 5.5 (or whatever it's ultimately called) arrives, a few things are worth watching rather than taking at face value. Check the license first — open weights are central to GLM's appeal, and a successor's terms aren't guaranteed. Watch independent coding and agentic numbers (SWE-bench Pro/Verified, Terminal-Bench) rather than only vendor slides, since Zhipu's own figures tend to run high. Confirm the context window and pricing, both of which shape real-world value. And, as always, run your own representative coding tasks: leaderboard position is a starting hypothesis, not a guarantee for your workload.

FAQ

When is GLM 5.5 coming out?

Reporting (JPMorgan analysts via Reuters and CGTN, late June 2026) points to an August 2026 window, but Z.ai has not confirmed a date. Treat it as a watch window.

Are there official GLM 5.5 specs or benchmarks?

No. As of late July 2026 there is no official model card, benchmark, pricing, or even a confirmed name. Hard numbers circulating now are speculation.

Will GLM 5.5 be open-weight?

Likely, given GLM-5.2 shipped under an MIT license — but a successor's license is never guaranteed until release. Check the terms at launch.

How many parameters will GLM 5.5 have?

Leaks suggest more than one trillion total parameters, up from GLM-5.2's ~753B, but this is an unconfirmed analyst/community figure.

What is GLM-5.2, the predecessor?

Zhipu's June 2026 open-weight flagship: a ~753B MoE (about 40B active), 1M-token context, MIT-licensed, strong on coding (e.g., ~62.1% SWE-bench Pro, 81.0% Terminal-Bench 2.1, vendor-reported) at roughly $1.20/$4.10 per million tokens.

Can I use GLM 5.5 now?

Not yet — it's unreleased. Use GLM-5.2 today, including through OrcaRouter's OpenAI-compatible endpoint, and switch when GLM 5.5 launches.

Bottom line

GLM 5.5 is one of the most anticipated open-weight releases of 2026, but it isn't here yet — the August 2026 timing is analyst-reported, the trillion-parameter and 1M-context specs are unconfirmed leaks, and even the name isn't final. What's solid is the trajectory and the baseline: GLM-5.2 is already a top open-weight coding model, MIT-licensed and cheap, and GLM 5.5 is expected to push agentic coding further. Build on GLM-5.2 today through a vendor-neutral endpoint like OrcaRouter, watch for the official model card, and let independent benchmarks plus your own tests decide how fast to adopt GLM 5.5 once it's real. We'll update this post when it launches.