---
title: "Revolut cuts AI coding costs by 90% with self-hosted GLM model"
slug: "revolut-cuts-ai-coding-costs-by-90-with-self-hosted-glm-model"
date: "2026-11-06"
category: "FinTech"
author: "Tariq Al-Mansoor"
correspondent: "Tariq Al-Mansoor"
correspondentRole: "Gulf & Capital Correspondent"
readingTimeMinutes: 1
tags: ["Fintech","News"]
originalSourceUrl: "https://linas.substack.com/p/revolut-ai-coding-costs-open-source-models"
canonicalUrl: "https://aurav.ae/revolut-cuts-ai-coding-costs-by-90-with-self-hosted-glm-model"
publisher: "Aura-V Intelligence (aurav.ae)"
---

# Revolut cuts AI coding costs by 90% with self-hosted GLM model

> Revolut reduced its AI coding spend by 90% after moving 2,000 engineers to a self-hosted GLM model on 56 Nvidia B200 GPUs, cutting lead time by about 70%.

## Key Takeaways (TL;DR)

- 2,000 engineers shifted from Anthropic/OpenAI APIs to Z.ai’s open-weight GLM on 56 Nvidia B200 GPUs.
- Blended cost fell to $0.30 per million tokens, roughly one-tenth of the prior invoice.
- Feature-to-merge lead time dropped about 70% after the migration.

Revolut reduced its AI coding bill by 90% and accelerated engineering output after migrating roughly 2,000 engineers from metered Anthropic and OpenAI APIs to Z.ai’s open-weight GLM model, self-hosted on 56 Nvidia B200 GPUs via Together AI. The blended cost is $0.30 per million tokens, and the invoice is one-tenth of the prior amount, according to David Abitbol, head of AI operations, who presented the details at AI Engineer New York[source](https://linas.substack.com/p/revolut-ai-coding-costs-open-source-models). Post-migration, the lead time from picking up a feature to having merge-ready code dropped by about 70%.

The company’s shift to a fixed GPU fleet and open-weight model, while retaining frontier models for niche tasks, illustrates a cost-effective approach that other B2B teams may consider.

Our read: The move shows that replacing pay-per-token frontier APIs with a self-hosted, open-weight model can deliver dramatic cost savings and speed gains when the workload can be consolidated onto a modest GPU fleet. The approach hinges on careful tuning and selective use of larger models, suggesting a template for fintechs seeking to balance AI performance with budget constraints.

---

*Original Think-Tank Source: [How Revolut Cut AI Costs 90% and Started Shipping Faster 🚀](https://linas.substack.com/p/revolut-ai-coding-costs-open-source-models)*