Qwen
7.1/10Alibaba's family of large language and multimodal models. It is offered as a free chat app, a pay-as-you-go API through Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, and open-weight models for self-hosting.
Data last updated November 2026 · Our methodology
Overview
Qwen is Alibaba's model family. It covers general text and reasoning models plus specialist coding, vision, omni, speech, image, embedding, and reranking models. Businesses can use it three ways. Qwen Chat is a free web app for end users. The hosted API runs through Alibaba Cloud Model Studio. Open-weight checkpoints, many under Apache 2.0, can be downloaded and run on your own hardware with vLLM, SGLang, llama.cpp, or Ollama, and fine-tuned with tools such as Unsloth or Llama-Factory. It suits developers, startups, and enterprises that want low per-token API costs or need to keep data in-house through private deployment. Multilingual products and coding agents are the most common fits. The API is billed per million tokens. On the international list, qwen-flash costs $0.05 for input and $0.40 for output, qwen-plus costs $0.40 and $1.20, and qwen-max costs $1.60 and $6.40. Requests over 256K tokens are billed at a higher tier. Newer models come with a 1 million token free quota valid for 90 days, and batch calls are half price. The API is OpenAI-compatible, and Qwen-Agent supports function calling and MCP. The main limitations are governance and ecosystem. Admin tooling and integrations with Western workplace apps are thinner than ChatGPT or Claude. Some top models, such as Qwen 3.7 Max and Plus, are API-only. Model names and regional prices change often. Some buyers also raise concerns about content restrictions and Chinese vendor risk.
Our Rating
Who Qwen is best for
Best software for DevelopersGood fit
Developers get open weights, an OpenAI-compatible API, and Qwen-Agent tooling, so they can build on it directly.
Cheap multilingual models with long context suit embedding AI features inside products.
Low token prices, free quotas, and Apache 2.0 models keep costs down for early-stage teams.
Less suited
Self-hosting gives control over data, but reviewers find the admin tooling and Western integrations weaker than ChatGPT or Claude.
Qwen Chat is free, but it is not packaged as a team productivity suite.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Some of the lowest per-token API prices among frontier-class model families, with qwen-flash at $0.05 per million input tokens.
- Many models ship as Apache 2.0 open weights, so teams can self-host and fine-tune them for data control.
- A broad lineup covers coding, vision, omni, speech, image, embedding, and reranking models.
- Long context of up to 1M tokens on hosted models, with support for many languages.
- The API is OpenAI-compatible, and Qwen-Agent supports function calling and MCP.
Cons
- Reviewers find admin and governance tooling, and integrations with Western workplace apps, weaker than ChatGPT or Claude.
- Some flagships, such as the Qwen 3.7 Max and Plus series, are API-only with no open weights.
- Requests over 256K tokens move to a much higher price tier, and model names change often.
- One review reports slow output on Qwen3.8-Max and errors on local law and arithmetic.
- Content restrictions and Chinese vendor risk worry some organizations, and two technical leads departed in March 2026.
Key Features
Qwen Pricing
Open-weight models
- Apache 2.0 for many checkpoints
- You pay your own hardware costs
- Self-host via vLLM, SGLang, llama.cpp, Ollama
Model Studio API (pay-as-you-go)
- Billed per million tokens
- Batch calls at 50% of real-time price
- Context cache discounts on input tokens
- 1M-token free quota for newer models, valid 90 days
Frequently Asked Questions
Qwen Chat is free on the web, and many open-weight models are free to download. The hosted API is pay-as-you-go. Newer models include a 1 million token free quota for 90 days.
Yes. Many open-weight checkpoints are Apache 2.0 licensed and run on vLLM, SGLang, TensorRT-LLM, llama.cpp, Ollama, or LM Studio. Hardware and operations costs are yours.
Qwen's repository points to external frameworks for SFT, DPO, and GRPO, such as Unsloth, Axolotl, Swift, and Llama-Factory.
Yes. Model Studio and the self-hosted servers expose OpenAI-compatible endpoints, and some services also offer Anthropic-compatible interfaces.
Prices are tiered by input size per request. For example, qwen-plus input costs $0.40 per million tokens up to 256K and $1.20 above that. Batch calls are billed at 50%, and cache hits are discounted.
No. Qwen 3.7 Max and Plus are API-only, and licenses vary. Some models use the Qwen Community License or custom terms instead of Apache 2.0.
Similar Tools
See all alternativesAmazon Bedrock is a fully managed AWS service that gives developers API access to foundation models from many providers, plus tools for agents, RAG, guardrails and fine-tuning.
Onyx, formerly Danswer, is an open-source AI assistant and enterprise search tool that lets staff search and chat across 50+ connected workplace apps with permissions respected.
Google's family of generative AI models and assistants, sold to businesses through Gemini Enterprise, Workspace plans and a pay-per-token developer API.
Ranked near Qwen in AI Software
See Qwen in the listQwen is #44 in AI Software by our score.
