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DeepSeek vs Qwen

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan
Both — DeepSeek has a free plan, Qwen is free to use
Public API
Both have one
Best fit
DeepSeek: Developers and agent builders who want frontier-class output at a fraction of OpenAI or Anthropic token prices · Qwen: Anyone wanting a free chatbot with no message cap
Trust score
About even — DeepSeek 92, Qwen 90
Status
Both up at our last check — DeepSeek Sep 6, 2026, Qwen Sep 1, 2026

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

DeepSeekOpen-weight reasoning models with a free chat appQwenAlibaba's free web and mobile AI chat assistant, with a separate metered API for developers.

Side by side

FactDeepSeekQwen
CategoryGeneral-purpose AI ChatbotsGeneral-purpose AI Chatbots
Pricing modelFreemiumFree
Public APIYesYes
Trust score92 / 10090 / 100
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, APIWeb, iOS, Android, API
CompanyHangzhou DeepSeek Artificial Intelligence Basic Technology Research Co., Ltd.Alibaba Cloud
Launched20232023
Last verifiedSep 6, 2026Sep 1, 2026

What our research says

DeepSeek

Pick DeepSeek for the price-performance of the API and the open weights, not for the chat app, which is a plain assistant without the connectors and workspace features the big consumer products now carry. For a developer paying per token it is hard to beat; for a company with data-residency rules the China-hosted service and PRC-law terms settle the question before quality does.

Pros

  • Flash output at $1.20 per million tokens peak and $0.60 off-peak undercuts every Western frontier API by a wide margin
  • Open-weight releases mean the models can be run locally or on any cloud, with no lock-in to the hosted service
  • 1M-token context on both current models, with cached-input pricing that makes long agent loops cheap
  • Chat app is free on web, iOS and Android with no tier to upgrade to

Cons

  • Terms are governed by the law of mainland China and the operator is a Hangzhou company, which rules it out for many regulated buyers
  • Peak and off-peak pricing by UTC window makes budgeting and benchmarking fiddly
  • Concurrency caps (2,500 for Flash, 500 for V4-Pro) and periodic capacity squeezes hit production workloads
  • The chat product trails ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude on connectors, projects and team features

Qwen

Qwen is a solid free daily-driver chatbot backed by a large, frequently updated model family, and the same models are available to self-host since several sizes ship open-weight. The chat product's polish trails ChatGPT or Gemini in the English-speaking market, and account creation nudges toward a phone number or Alibaba-linked login.

Pros

  • Free consumer chat and mobile apps with no visible message limit
  • Open-weight model releases available for self-hosting, not just API access
  • Multimodal chat handles file uploads and image generation in the same thread
  • Per-token API pricing is inexpensive next to comparable Western models

Cons

  • English-language polish and plugin ecosystem lag the top US chat products
  • Signing up leans on a phone number or Alibaba account

Which one fits

Choose DeepSeek if you need

  • Developers and agent builders who want frontier-class output at a fraction of OpenAI or Anthropic token prices
  • Teams that want open weights they can host themselves and swap in behind the same API shape
  • Individuals who want a free reasoning assistant with a 1M-token context and no subscription

Choose Qwen if you need

  • Anyone wanting a free chatbot with no message cap
  • Developers who want to self-host an open-weight model instead of only calling an API
  • Users comfortable with a Chinese-company-operated service

DeepSeek vs Qwen: the questions people ask

Does DeepSeek or Qwen have a free tier?

Both: DeepSeek has a free tier, and Qwen is free to use.

Which has a public API, DeepSeek or Qwen?

Both ship a public API, so either can be built on; the fact table above shows the platforms each one runs on.

More comparisons

All DeepSeek alternatives →All Qwen alternatives →Browse all General-purpose AI Chatbots →