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Updated 13 Nov 2026 · prices read on vendor pages

15 best Qwen alternatives in 2027

Mehmet ElmicenniReviewed by Mehmet Elmicenni, founder of Zekai•Prices checked •How we check

The short answer

The best Qwen alternatives in 2027 are Claude (best overall, $20/mo), Gemini (best free plan) and Ollama (best open source, MIT). Qwen: API billed pay-as-you-go per token; no flat monthly plan price. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 13 Nov 2026; 12 more are compared below, including 5 with a free plan and 5 open source.

Open the Zekai Cost Finder Get price alerts
Best overallSee in table →

Claude

$20/mo · free plan

9.4
Best free planSee in table →
Gemini logo

Gemini

Free plan; paid price not published · free plan

8.7
Best open sourceSee in table →
Ollama logo

Ollama

Free to self-host · MIT

9.1
15alternatives compared
7with a free plan
6open source
$14.99/mocheapest paid · Mistral AI
API billed pay-as-you-go per token; no flat monthly plan price.Qwen starts at
01 · Zekai Price Ledger

Which Qwen alternatives are worth it in 2027?

The strongest Qwen alternatives are Claude at $20 a month, Mistral at $14.99 and ChatGPT at $20, with DeepSeek, GLM and Kimi as rival Chinese labs priced per token. Together AI and OpenRouter host or route Qwen models. Ollama and llamafile run open weights locally.

ToolTypeStarting priceFree plan limitBest forCost for your teamChecked
Qwen logo
QwenThe tool you are replacing
 You are here
API billed pay-as-you-go per token; no flat monthly plan price.API pay per token on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, e.g. qwen3.8-max $2 input / $6 output per 1M (Singapore)
 1M free tokens per model (Singapore, 90 days) Open-weight models plus free Qwen Chat — 13 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
Claude Zekai score 9.4Best overall
 Free plan + paid
$20/moPro, $20 billed monthly or $17/mo billed yearly; API Sonnet 5.5 $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens
 Limited usage every 5 hours and every week Careful writing and agentic coding — 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
Mistral AI logo
Mistral AI Zekai score 9.1Cheapest paid
 Free plan + paid
$14.99/moLe Chat Pro monthly (Team $24.99/user; student Pro $5.99/mo for 12 months)
 Limited messages, web searches and coding sessions European provider with chat and API — 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
ChatGPT logo
ChatGPT Zekai score 9.3
 Free plan + paid
$20/moPlus, monthly (Go $8; Business $20/user billed annually, $25 monthly); API gpt-6.1-sol $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens
 General assistant with API and Codex — 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
Gemini logo
Gemini Zekai score 8.7Best free plan
 Free
Free plan; paid price not publishedGemini API pay per token, e.g. Gemini 3.5 Flash $1.50 input / $9.00 output per 1M (consumer plans not read)
 Free tier on Flash and 2.5 Pro models; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview not free Free API tier from Google $0 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
DeepSeek logo
DeepSeek Zekai score 8.9
 Free
Free plan; paid price not publishedAPI pay per token: deepseek-flash $0.30 input / $1.20 output per 1M at peak, half off-peak
 Web and app chat; no limit stated Low-cost open-weight API $0 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
Together AI logo
Together AI Zekai score 9.1
Not checkedPay per token; Qwen3.8 Flash $0.15 input / $0.47 output per 1M; serverless, dedicated, GPU clusters
 No free plan Host and fine-tune Qwen and other open models — 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
OpenRouter logo
OpenRouter Zekai score 9.3
 Free
Free plan; paid price not publishedPay as you go: Standard 5.5% platform fee, Business 8%, Free no fee
 25+ free models, 4 free providers, 50 requests per day One API across many providers $0 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
Kimi (Moonshot AI) Not yet reviewed by Zekai
Not checkedAPI pay per token; the price tables did not load on the page read
 No free plan Long-context open-weight models — 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
GLM (Z.ai) Not yet reviewed by Zekai
 Free
Free plan; paid price not publishedAPI pay per token: GLM-5.3 $1.40 input / $4.40 output per 1M
 Free models: GLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.5-Flash, GLM-4.6V-Flash Chinese API with free Flash models $0 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
Ollama logo
Ollama Zekai score 9.1Best open source
 Open source
$20/mo (hosted)Pro (cloud), $20 monthly or $200/yr ($16.67/mo); $60 monthly usage credits
 No limit, self-hosted (MIT) Run Qwen models locally — 12 Nov 2026 Pricing ↗
llamafile logo
llamafile Zekai score 7.4
 Open source
Free (self-hosted)
 No limit, self-hosted (Apache-2.0) Single-file local model runner $0 12 Nov 2026 Code ↗
Qwen3 open weights logo
Qwen3 open weights Not yet reviewed by Zekai
 Open source
Free (self-hosted)
 No limit, self-hosted (Apache-2.0 (model weights; repo has no LICENSE file)) Self-hosting Qwen's own Apache-2.0 models $0 13 Nov 2026 Code ↗
llama.cpp logo
llama.cpp Zekai score 8.3
 Open source
Free (self-hosted)
 No limit, self-hosted (MIT) Core engine for running GGUF models locally $0 13 Nov 2026 Code ↗
vLLM logo
vLLM Zekai score 7.8
 Open source
Free (self-hosted)
 No limit, self-hosted (Apache-2.0) High-throughput GPU serving of open models $0 13 Nov 2026 Code ↗
LocalAI logo
LocalAI Zekai score 8.4
 Open source
Free (self-hosted)
 No limit, self-hosted (MIT) One OpenAI-compatible server for many model types $0 13 Nov 2026 Code ↗

Every price was read on the vendor's own pricing page on the date shown. The Cost Finder assumes one entry plan per person, so it multiplies by your team size; yearly prices are shown per month, and team or business plans can cost more per seat. "Not checked" means we could not confirm a public price.

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02 · Free plan

Is there a free version of Qwen?

Yes. Qwen Chat at chat.qwen.ai is presented as free to open, and its page states no price or limit. The API has a free quota of 1M tokens for some models in Singapore, valid 90 days from activation, with no free quota in other regions.

Source: Qwen pricing page, read 13 Nov 2026.

Free$0

1M free tokens per model (Singapore, 90 days)

Paid fromAPI billed pay-as-you-go per token; no flat monthly plan price.

API pay per token on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio, e.g. qwen3.8-max $2 input / $6 output per 1M (Singapore)

03 · Free alternatives

What are the best free Qwen alternatives?

Gemini's API has a free tier for Flash models, OpenRouter's Free plan gives 50 requests a day across 25+ free models, and Z.ai lists three free GLM Flash models. Qwen itself offers 1M free tokens per model in Singapore for 90 days. Ollama and llamafile run models free on your own hardware.

Claude

Best overallFree plan + paid
Limited usage every 5 hours and every week
Paid from $20/mo
vs Qwen →Zekai review
Mistral AI logo

Mistral AI

Cheapest paidFree plan + paid
Limited messages, web searches and coding sessions
Paid from $14.99/mo
vs Qwen →Zekai review
ChatGPT logo

ChatGPT

Free plan + paid
Paid from $20/mo
vs Qwen →Zekai review
Gemini logo

Gemini

Best free planFree
Free tier on Flash and 2.5 Pro models; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview not free
vs Qwen →Zekai review
DeepSeek logo

DeepSeek

Free
Web and app chat; no limit stated
vs Qwen →Zekai review
OpenRouter logo

OpenRouter

Free
25+ free models, 4 free providers, 50 requests per day
vs Qwen →Zekai review

GLM (Z.ai)

Free
Free models: GLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.5-Flash, GLM-4.6V-Flash
vs Qwen →
04 · Open source

What are the best open-source Qwen alternatives?

Qwen's own Qwen3 weights are Apache-2.0 and can be run yourself. Ollama (MIT), llamafile (Apache-2.0), llama.cpp (MIT) and LocalAI (MIT) run them locally; vLLM (Apache-2.0) serves them on GPUs. You supply the hardware and no API key is needed; Ollama also sells an optional cloud plan.

Ollama logo

Ollama

MIT★ 186.9k GitHub stars · 13 Nov 2026
To self-host: Install the Ollama app or CLI on macOS, Windows or Linux and pull a Qwen model; memory needs depend on model size.
Commercial use
Yes (MIT); each downloaded model carries its own licence.
Runs on
macOS, Windows or Linux; memory needs follow the model size.
Setup
Easy · Install the app, then pull a model with one command.
Last commit
12 Nov 2026
Last release 10 Nov 2026
Zekai open-source pageSource code ↗Managed hosting slot
llamafile logo

llamafile

Apache-2.0★ 26.6k GitHub stars · 13 Nov 2026
To self-host: Download a prebuilt llamafile (the page links a 0.8B Qwen3.5 example on Hugging Face) and run it; Windows cannot run executables over 4GB, so larger models use separate GGUF weights.
Commercial use
Yes (Apache-2.0); the bundled model keeps its own licence.
Runs on
Most operating systems; Windows cannot run executables over 4GB.
Setup
Easy · Download one file and run it; no install step.
Last commit
5 Nov 2026
Last release 15 Sep 2026
Zekai open-source pageSource code ↗Managed hosting slot
Qwen3 open weights logo

Qwen3 open weights

Apache-2.0 (model weights; repo has no LICENSE file)★ 27.7k GitHub stars · 13 Nov 2026
To self-host: Download weights from Hugging Face or ModelScope and serve them with Transformers, vLLM, SGLang, llama.cpp or Ollama; memory needs rise with model size.
Commercial use
Yes; the README says all open-weight models are licensed under Apache 2.0.
Runs on
Sizes from 0.6B to 235B-A22B; memory needs rise with model size.
Setup
Hard · Download weights and serve them with vLLM, SGLang, llama.cpp or Ollama.
Last commit
9 Jan 2026
Source code ↗Managed hosting slot
llama.cpp logo

llama.cpp

MIT★ 134.9k GitHub stars · 13 Nov 2026
To self-host: Install with the llama.app script, Docker or a prebuilt binary, or build from source, then run llama serve -hf with a GGUF model.
Commercial use
Yes (MIT); each GGUF model keeps its own licence.
Runs on
Apple silicon, NVIDIA (CUDA), AMD (HIP) GPUs, or plain CPU.
Setup
Easy · Install script or prebuilt binary, then one command serves a model.
Last commit
13 Nov 2026
Last release 13 Nov 2026
Zekai open-source pageSource code ↗Managed hosting slot
vLLM logo

vLLM

Apache-2.0★ 96.9k GitHub stars · 13 Nov 2026
To self-host: Install with uv pip install vllm on a machine with a supported GPU or CPU backend, then serve a Hugging Face model through its OpenAI-compatible server.
Commercial use
Yes (Apache-2.0); each model keeps its own licence.
Runs on
NVIDIA, AMD or Intel GPUs, or x86, ARM and PowerPC CPUs.
Setup
Hard · GPU drivers, model downloads and serving flags to tune.
Last commit
13 Nov 2026
Last release 2 Nov 2026
Zekai open-source pageSource code ↗Managed hosting slot
LocalAI logo

LocalAI

MIT★ 50.4k GitHub stars · 13 Nov 2026
To self-host: Run docker run -p 8080:8080 localai/localai:latest or the macOS app; backends for each model type are pulled when a model needs them.
Commercial use
Yes (MIT); each model keeps its own licence.
Runs on
Any hardware, including CPU-only; GPU builds for NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Apple.
Setup
Moderate · Docker command, then backends and models download on demand.
Last commit
13 Nov 2026
Last release 23 Oct 2026
Zekai open-source pageSource code ↗Managed hosting slot
05 · Side by side

How does Qwen compare with each alternative?

Qwen is a model family: open weights, an API on Alibaba Cloud and the free Qwen Chat app. Rivals mostly sell closed models by subscription or token. The table shows one checkable price, limit or licence difference for each and who should switch.

01

Qwen vs Claude

Best overallFree plan + paid$20/mo · checked 12 Nov 20269.4
The differenceClosed-weight models only, via a $20 monthly chat plan or an API at $2 input and $10 output per million tokens for Sonnet 5.5; Qwen publishes open weights.
Switch to Claude ifyou want a flat monthly chat subscription with Claude Code included and no weights to host
Stay with Qwen ifyou need downloadable weights, Apache-2.0 models you can fine-tune, or the cheapest Singapore API rates
Pros
  • Excellent at summarizing and analyzing long, complex documents.
  • Generates high-quality, natural-sounding educational content.
Cons
  • Free tier has usage limits that reset every few hours, which can interrupt workflow.
  • Lacks built-in DALL-E style image generation capabilities.

Pros and cons from the Zekai review of Claude · Verdict: Deep Document Analysis

Visit ClaudeRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
02
Mistral AI logo

Qwen vs Mistral AI

Cheapest paidFree plan + paid$14.99/mo · checked 12 Nov 20269.1
The differenceLe Chat Pro costs $14.99 a month, and Mistral Large is listed at $0.5 input and $1.5 output per million tokens with 50% batch discounts and OCR billed per 1,000 pages.
Switch to Mistral AI ifyou want a European vendor with a $14.99 chat plan plus API credits in one account
Stay with Qwen ifyou want the Qwen3.8 open weights in sizes from 0.8B to 2.4T parameters on Hugging Face
Pros
  • Moves beyond simple completion to autonomous, multi-step coding tasks.
  • Deep integration into developer workflows via terminal and IDE plugins.
Cons
  • Advanced features like custom model training (Forge) have a steep learning curve.
  • The platform's full potential is best realized within its own ecosystem (Studio, Vibe).

Pros and cons from the Zekai review of Mistral AI · Verdict: Powerful Dev Agent Suite

Visit Mistral AIRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
03
ChatGPT logo

Qwen vs ChatGPT

Free plan + paid$20/mo · checked 12 Nov 20269.3
The differenceAPI list price is $2 input and $10 output per million tokens for gpt-6.1-sol, and $0.10 / $0.50 for gpt-6-luna; no model usage is free on the API pricing page.
Switch to ChatGPT ifyou want the biggest consumer assistant with Codex and an API from one vendor
Stay with Qwen ifyou want Singapore API quotas of 1M free tokens per model or weights you can run yourself
Pros
  • ChatGPT's context understanding enables Marketing & Content Creation teams to generate high-quality content that resonates with their audience.
  • The tool's conversation flow and memory features allow for seamless content iteration and refinement.
Cons
  • The lack of explicit brand voice and tone guidance may require additional setup and fine-tuning for Marketing & Content Creation teams.
  • ChatGPT's limitations in handling extremely complex or niche topics may necessitate additional research and editing.

Pros and cons from the Zekai review of ChatGPT

Visit ChatGPTRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
04
Gemini logo

Qwen vs Gemini

Best free planFreeFree plan; paid price not published8.7
The differenceThe Gemini API has a free tier for Flash and 2.5 Pro models, but free-tier content may be used to improve Google products; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is paid at $2.00 / $12.00.
Switch to Gemini ifyou want a free API tier without the 90-day expiry on Alibaba's 1M-token quota
Stay with Qwen ifyour prompts must stay out of a vendor's product training, or you need open weights
Pros
  • Free access to a highly capable base model
  • Directly integrated with the Google ecosystem and search
Cons
  • Outputs require rigorous fact-checking for academic use
  • Can generate plausible but incorrect information (hallucinations)

Pros and cons from the Zekai review of Gemini · Verdict: Top-Tier Study Partner

Visit GeminiRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
05
DeepSeek logo

Qwen vs DeepSeek

FreeFree plan; paid price not published8.9
The differencePeak and off-peak pricing: deepseek-flash costs $0.30 input and $1.20 output per million tokens at peak and half that off-peak, with a 1M-token context and up to 384K output.
Switch to DeepSeek ifyou run batch work in off-peak hours and want the lowest flash-tier output price
Stay with Qwen ifyou want a wider model range, from 0.8B to 2.4T parameters, and regional pricing choices
Pros
  • Free conversation option available on the web
  • Cross-platform support across web, mobile app, and API
Cons
  • API pricing information is available through the API 价格 section
  • Requires account setup to access detailed API configuration

Pros and cons from the Zekai review of DeepSeek · Verdict: Capable AI developer API

Visit DeepSeekRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
06
Together AI logo

Qwen vs Together AI

Not checked9.1
The differenceHosts Qwen models itself (Qwen3.7-Max $2.50 / $7.50 per 1M) and lists fine-tuning from $0.34 per million tokens, with dedicated endpoints and GPU clusters for scale.
Switch to Together AI ifyou want Qwen and other open models fine-tuned or on dedicated endpoints without leaving a US provider
Stay with Qwen ifyou want the 1M-token free quota on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio or the vendor's own latest releases first
Pros
  • Access to a wide library of top open-source models
  • No infrastructure to manage for serverless endpoints
Cons
  • Requires technical expertise to configure and manage
  • Pricing varies significantly depending on model and token volume

Pros and cons from the Zekai review of Together AI · Verdict: Open-source AI cloud

Visit Together AIRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
07
OpenRouter logo

Qwen vs OpenRouter

FreeFree plan; paid price not published9.3
The differenceA router rather than a model maker: 25+ free models and 50 free requests a day on the Free plan, and a 5.5% platform fee on Standard, with BYOK free up to $25,000 of monthly list-price inference.
Switch to OpenRouter ifyou want to switch between Qwen, Claude, Gemini and others through one key and failover
Stay with Qwen ifyou want to pay the model vendor directly and avoid a platform fee
Pros
  • Pay-per-use pricing model avoids fixed monthly subscriptions.
  • Automatic routing and fallback improves reliability for critical tasks.
Cons
  • Pay-as-you-go model can lead to unpredictable costs if usage spikes.
  • Requires technical knowledge (API keys) to integrate into workflows.

Pros and cons from the Zekai review of OpenRouter · Verdict: Power User's Model Hub

Visit OpenRouterRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
08

Qwen vs Kimi (Moonshot AI)

Not checked
The differenceKimi K3 models have 1,048,576-token context windows and K2 models 262,144; batch calls on kimi-k3 and kimi-k3.1-pro are billed at 60% of standard price.
Switch to Kimi (Moonshot AI) ifyou need million-token context on a Chinese open-weight lab's API with a 40% batch discount
Stay with Qwen ifyou want published USD prices and free quota rules you can read before signing up
Visit Kimi (Moonshot AI)Price alert
09

Qwen vs GLM (Z.ai)

FreeFree plan; paid price not published
The differenceThree models are free on the pricing page (GLM-4.7-Flash, GLM-4.5-Flash, GLM-4.6V-Flash), and GLM-5.3 costs $1.40 input and $4.40 output per million tokens.
Switch to GLM (Z.ai) ifyou want a no-cost API model for prototypes and a paid flagship at $1.40 input
Stay with Qwen ifyou want 1M free tokens on newer flagship Qwen models and open weights under Apache-2.0
Visit GLM (Z.ai)Price alert
10
Ollama logo

Qwen vs Ollama

Best open sourceOpen source$20/mo (hosted) · checked 12 Nov 20269.1
The differenceRuns Qwen models locally for free (library lists qwen3.8 27b, qwen3.5 up to 122b, qwen3-coder 480b); an optional cloud Pro plan is $20 a month or $16.67 billed yearly.
Switch to Ollama ifyou want Qwen weights running on your own machine with no per-token bill
Stay with Qwen ifyou want a hosted API with frontier-size Qwen3.8-Max and no GPU or memory to manage
Visit OllamaRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
11
llamafile logo

Qwen vs llamafile

Open sourceFree (self-hosted)7.4
The differencePackages a model and llama.cpp into one executable that runs on most operating systems without installation; includes whisperfile for speech-to-text.
Switch to llamafile ifyou want one portable file that runs a small Qwen model offline with no install step
Stay with Qwen ifyou need a managed API, a model library with many sizes, or tools for fine-tuning
Visit llamafileRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
12
Qwen3 open weights logo

Qwen vs Qwen3 open weights

Open sourceFree (self-hosted)
The differenceQwen3 weights from 0.6B to 235B-A22B, dense and mixture-of-experts, under Apache 2.0; you download and serve them yourself, so there is no per-token bill but you supply the compute.
Switch to Qwen3 open weights ifyou want Qwen models under your own control with no per-token billing and can supply the hardware
Stay with Qwen ifyou want hosted API access to the newest Qwen models without managing GPUs or model files
Visit Qwen3 open weightsPrice alert
13
llama.cpp logo

Qwen vs llama.cpp

Open sourceFree (self-hosted)8.3
The differenceC/C++ inference engine with a built-in OpenAI-compatible server that runs GGUF models, including Qwen, on Apple silicon, NVIDIA, AMD GPUs or CPU alone.
Switch to llama.cpp ifyou want the inference engine itself with its own OpenAI-compatible server and will choose hardware settings yourself
Stay with Qwen ifyou want a hosted API with no model files, builds or drivers to manage
Visit llama.cppRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
14
vLLM logo

Qwen vs vLLM

Open sourceFree (self-hosted)7.8
The differenceA serving engine built around PagedAttention and continuous batching with an OpenAI-compatible server, aimed at throughput for many requests rather than one local chat session.
Switch to vLLM ifyou will serve Qwen models to many users on your own GPUs and need high throughput
Stay with Qwen ifyou want per-token API access without buying or driving GPUs
Visit vLLMRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
15
LocalAI logo

Qwen vs LocalAI

Open sourceFree (self-hosted)8.4
The differenceDrop-in OpenAI, Anthropic and ElevenLabs-compatible server that runs LLMs, vision, voice, image and video models on NVIDIA, AMD, Intel, Apple silicon, Vulkan or CPU-only.
Switch to LocalAI ifyou want one self-hosted API covering text, voice and image models that can run without a GPU
Stay with Qwen ifyou want a hosted Qwen API with no local runtime to manage
Visit LocalAIRead the Zekai reviewPrice alert
06 · What changed

Why do people leave Qwen?

  • Free API quotas apply only in Singapore, expire 90 days after activation or model release, and are not offered in other regions. (source)

  • The same pricing page lists different prices by region: qwen3.8-max is $2 / $6 per million tokens in Singapore and $1.65 / $4.951 in China (Beijing), and Singapore qwen3.7-plus carries a limited-time 20% discount. (source)

  • Alibaba released Qwen3.8-27B under Apache 2.0; the Hugging Face card for the 2.4T-parameter flagship lists a separate 'qwen3.8-max' licence rather than Apache-2.0. (source)

08 · FAQ

Questions people ask about Qwen alternatives

What is the best alternative to Qwen in 2027?

Claude is the best overall Qwen alternative on this page ($20/mo). For no cost, Gemini has a free plan (Free tier on Flash and 2.5 Pro models; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview not free). To self-host, Ollama is open source (MIT).

Is there a free version of Qwen?

Yes. Qwen has a free plan: 1M free tokens per model (Singapore, 90 days). Paid plans start at API billed pay-as-you-go per token; no flat monthly plan price., checked on 13 Nov 2026.

Is there a 100% free alternative to Qwen?

Yes. Ollama, llamafile, Qwen3 open weights, llama.cpp, vLLM, LocalAI are open source and free to self-host. Claude, Mistral AI, ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, GLM (Z.ai) have a free plan with limits, shown in the table.

How much do Qwen alternatives cost for a team of 5?

If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 13 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Mistral AI $74.95/mo, Claude $100/mo, ChatGPT $100/mo. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size.

Which is better, Claude or Qwen?

Closed-weight models only, via a $20 monthly chat plan or an API at $2 input and $10 output per million tokens for Sonnet 5.5; Qwen publishes open weights. Choose Claude if you want a flat monthly chat subscription with Claude Code included and no weights to host. Stay with Qwen if you need downloadable weights, Apache-2.0 models you can fine-tune, or the cheapest Singapore API rates.

Why are people leaving Qwen?

The documented reasons are: Free API quotas apply only in Singapore, expire 90 days after activation or model release, and are not offered in other regions (7 Nov 2026); The same pricing page lists different prices by region: qwen3.8-max is $2 / $6 per million tokens in Singapore and $1.65 / $4.951 in China (Beijing), and Singapore qwen3.7-plus carries a limited-time 20% discount (7 Nov 2026). Each is sourced in the section above.

Qwen vs DeepSeek: which is better?

Both publish open weights and low per-token API prices. Qwen offers more sizes and a free Singapore quota; DeepSeek has peak and off-peak pricing and a 1M-token context. Match the model to your task and region.

09 · Method

How did Zekai check this page?

Zekai independently reviews AI tools. For this page we read each vendor's own pricing and product pages and recorded the starting price, the free-plan limit and the date of the check. Only tools that do the same job as Qwen are listed, and sponsors never change the order or the scores.

Mehmet Elmicenni, founder of Zekai
Mehmet Elmicenni

Founder of Zekai. Reviews the alternatives pages and the price checks behind them.

About the founder · How Zekai scores tools

JSON copyMarkdown copy
1 · Same job onlyEvery alternative does the same task as Qwen; tools for other jobs are left out.
2 · Vendor pages onlyPrices and free limits come from each vendor's own pricing page, never from blogs.
Zekai score0–10, from four published weights: ease 25%, output quality 30%, value 20%, time saved 25%. How we score
3 · Re-checkedA price older than 35 days is re-read or the page falls back to an older version.
Change log

  • Page rebuilt on v6; all prices re-read on vendor pages.

  • Missing prices re-read on vendor pages.

  • Open-source options expanded; each now shows licence, commercial use, hardware and setup.

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