Chinese startup Zhipu announced a 50% price increase for its GLM Coding subscription due to overwhelming user demand. This is a warning sign for the entire industry: Should we adapt to paid services or migrate to local models?
Introduction: When AI Coding Got Expensive Too Imagine it's Monday morning, you've grabbed your coffee, opened VS Code, and suddenly receive an email: "Your subscription price will increase by 50% next
month." This is exactly what thousands of Chinese developers experienced on February 12, 2026. Zhipu AI , one of China's leading AI startups, announced that due to "unexpected user surge" and "increased
infrastructure costs," the price of its GLM Coding plan would increase from 99 yuan (about $14) to 149 yuan (about $21) per month. That's a 50% price hike overnight! But this isn't just Zhipu's story.
It's a warning sign for the entire industry. GitHub Copilot started at $10/month in 2023, now it's $19. Cursor went from $20 to $30. Tabnine revised its plans. It seems the era of "cheap AI coding" is
over. [IMAGE_PLACEHOLDER_1] Why Are Prices Rising? The Economics Behind AI Coding The Real Cost of Running an AI Model Let's be honest: running an AI coding service isn't cheap. Every time you use Copilot
or any similar tool, this happens behind the scenes: GPU Inference: Each request requires processing on powerful GPUs (A100, H100) Context Window: The model must read entire files or even multiple files
(token cost) Real-time Response: Users expect responses in under 2 seconds Scale: Millions of requests per day Based on industry estimates, the cost of serving an active user (who gets 100-200 completions
daily) is between $8 to $15 per month. Now you understand why companies can't keep prices low? Business Model: Freemium or Premium? Most AI coding companies started with a Freemium model: a limited free
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