Agentic AI Comparison:
GLM‑4.5 vs New API
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Introduction
This report compares GLM-4.5, an open-source, agent-native hybrid reasoning model, with New API, a general-purpose LLM API platform that exposes and routes access to multiple models. The scores reflect the supplied sources and are normalized on a 1-10 scale, where higher is better.
Overview
New API
New API is a platform and gateway for accessing AI models through a single API, with documentation and an open-source GitHub project indicating an emphasis on compatibility, aggregation, and practical API deployment. The available sources support its role as an API service, but they do not provide benchmark-style model performance data comparable to GLM-4.5.
GLM‑4.5
GLM-4.5 is designed as an agentic foundation model with native planning, multi-tool orchestration, and hybrid reasoning modes for both deep thinking and fast responses. It is open-source, has 355B total parameters with 32B activated parameters, and is reported to rank among the top models on several reasoning, coding, and agentic benchmarks.
Metrics Comparison
authonomy
GLM‑4.5: 9
GLM-4.5 is explicitly described as agent-native, with autonomous task planning, multi-tool orchestration, and dynamic environment interaction, which strongly supports independent operation. Its hybrid reasoning modes also allow it to choose between deep reasoning and immediate responses depending on task needs.
New API: 6
New API appears to function primarily as an API platform rather than a self-directed agent model, so its autonomy depends on the models and workflows built on top of it. The available sources support API access and integration, but not intrinsic autonomous task execution.
GLM-4.5 is clearly stronger in autonomy because autonomy is a core model capability, while New API is better understood as an enabling platform rather than an autonomous agent itself.
ease of use
GLM‑4.5: 7
GLM-4.5 offers two operating modes, thinking and non-thinking, which makes it adaptable for different workloads. However, its open-source model nature and agentic capabilities imply more setup and integration effort than a turnkey API service.
New API: 8
As an API-oriented platform, New API is likely easier to adopt for developers who want a single interface to access models without managing model internals. The documentation and repository suggest a focus on practical integration, which generally improves usability.
New API likely wins on ease of use for most developers because it reduces integration complexity, while GLM-4.5 is more capable but typically requires more model-specific handling.
flexibility
GLM‑4.5: 9
GLM-4.5 is highly flexible because it combines reasoning, coding, and agentic behavior in one model and supports both thinking and non-thinking modes. It also supports tool usage and dynamic interaction, making it suitable for a wide range of workflows.
New API: 8
New API is flexible at the platform layer because it can centralize access to different models and adapt to multiple application contexts through a unified API. The supplied sources support its role as an API gateway, though they do not show model-level reasoning flexibility comparable to GLM-4.5.
GLM-4.5 is more flexible as a single model with multiple behavioral modes, while New API is more flexible as an integration platform for serving or switching models.
cost
GLM‑4.5: 8
GLM-4.5 is open-source and described as aiming for accessibility and affordability, with a compact Air variant also released to improve efficiency. Those signals suggest favorable cost characteristics compared with proprietary frontier models, although exact pricing is not provided in the cited sources.
New API: 7
New API may reduce operational cost by simplifying integration and allowing access to multiple models through one platform, but the sources do not provide explicit pricing details. Because costs will depend on usage volume and underlying model selection, its cost advantage is structural rather than proven in the provided materials.
GLM-4.5 has a stronger cost story on the evidence provided because it is open-source and explicitly positioned around affordability, while New API’s cost advantage is more dependent on deployment choices and external model pricing.
popularity
GLM‑4.5: 8
GLM-4.5 has substantial visibility in the supplied sources, including a GitHub repository, a technical report, developer documentation, and benchmark coverage showing strong performance. That said, popularity is still harder to measure directly than performance, and the sources do not provide user-count data.
New API: 6
New API has a public website, documentation, and an open-source repository, which indicates real adoption and community presence. However, the supplied sources do not show broad benchmark discussion, usage metrics, or strong evidence of wide popularity beyond its role as an API platform.
GLM-4.5 appears more visible in the provided materials, likely because it is a model with benchmark-driven attention, whereas New API is a quieter infrastructure product whose popularity is harder to infer from the available sources.
Conclusions
GLM-4.5 is the stronger choice if the priority is autonomous agent behavior, reasoning power, and model-level flexibility, while New API is the better fit if the priority is simple integration and API-layer convenience. Based on the supplied sources, GLM-4.5 leads overall on autonomy, flexibility, and likely cost efficiency, while New API leads on ease of use as an integration platform.
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