COMPARISON · Last verified: September 2026
Claude vs Qwen
Status update
- Qwen Code: the free Qwen OAuth tier was discontinued on April 15, 2026. Qwen Code is still free, open-source software, but you now connect it to a paid plan, an API key or a local model.
Anthropic's assistant and Alibaba's open-weight model family, compared on chat apps, models, API prices, open weights and coding agents.
🏆 Quick Verdict
Claude (4.8/5 vs 4.3/5)
Both have free tiers; Claude Pro is $20/mo and Qwen Studio chat is free
⭐ Strongest At
Every tool has one thing it does better than its competitors. Here is each one's honest edge:
One polished assistant for chat, documents and code: every paid plan includes Claude Code, which runs in the terminal, IDE, desktop app and browser.
Openness and price: downloadable weights (Apache 2.0 on models such as Qwen3.8-27B), a chat app that is free to use, and low per-token API prices.
📊 Quick Specs
Claude vs Qwen: official demos
Official videos from Anthropic and Qwen, side by side.
Claude
Qwen
Official videos via YouTube (Anthropic; Qwen), embedded for reference. ToolChase does not host or claim these videos.
What is Claude?
Claude is Anthropic's AI assistant and the family of models behind it. The current lineup: Claude Fable 5.1, for demanding reasoning and long-horizon agentic work; Claude Opus 5, for complex agentic coding and enterprise work and Anthropic's suggested starting point for most workloads; Claude Sonnet 5, pitched as the best combination of speed and intelligence; and Claude Haiku 4.5, the fastest. On the API the first three accept up to 1M tokens of context and Haiku 4.5 accepts 200K. Claude runs on the web, in desktop apps and on iOS and Android. The free plan includes Sonnet and Haiku, web search, memory, connectors and Artifacts; paid plans add Opus, more usage, Research, Claude Design, Slides and Docs, Claude in Chrome and Microsoft 365, and Claude Code, Anthropic's agentic coding tool. Claude is closed-weight: Anthropic says its security controls are "focused on protecting model weights."
What is Qwen?
Qwen is the family of large language models built by Alibaba Cloud, and you can use it three ways. The assistant runs on the web as Qwen Studio at chat.qwen.ai (Qwen's Hugging Face page still calls it Qwen Chat) and in apps for iOS, Android, macOS and Windows; Qwen says it is "free to use, open to all." Qwen's app store listings mention image generation and understanding of photos and video. The flagship, Qwen3.8-Max, was released on August 3, 2026 with 2.4 trillion parameters (95 billion active) and a 1M-token context window on Qwen Cloud. Developers call Qwen through Alibaba Cloud Model Studio or Qwen Cloud, which Qwen's model cards call the official Qwen API service. Qwen also publishes weights on Hugging Face, from the Apache 2.0 Qwen3.8-27B to the Qwen3.8-Max weights (Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95B) under a custom license. For coding there are the Qwen3-Coder models and Qwen Code, an open-source coding agent.
Key differences at a glance
Both pair an assistant with their own models and a coding agent. What sets them apart:
- -- Weights: Qwen publishes downloadable weights on Hugging Face, including Apache 2.0 models such as Qwen3.8-27B; Claude is closed-weight and runs through Anthropic or a cloud partner.
- -- Chat app cost: Claude has a free plan, then Pro at $20 a month; Qwen says Qwen Studio is free to use, and its Android app lists optional in-app purchases.
- -- API price: Claude Opus 5 costs $5/$25 per million input/output tokens and Sonnet 5 costs $2/$10; Qwen3.8-Max costs $2/$6 on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio's international price list.
- -- Coding agent: Claude Code comes with every paid Claude plan; Qwen Code is free, open-source software that needs a model provider now that the free Qwen OAuth tier has been discontinued.
- -- Where you buy: Claude's current models are sold by Anthropic and through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry; Qwen3.8-Max is sold through Alibaba Cloud Model Studio and Qwen Cloud, and Amazon Bedrock also offers several Qwen3 models, such as Qwen3 235B A22B 2507 and Qwen3 Coder Next.
- -- Score: Claude rates 4.8/5 in our review; Qwen rates 4.3/5.
Feature-by-feature comparison
How the two compare on apps, models, APIs and coding tools:
Pricing comparison
Claude's plans are priced per person. The Free plan costs $0. Pro is $20 a month billed monthly, or $17 a month on an annual plan ($200 billed up front), and gives at least 5x the Free plan's usage per five-hour session, plus Claude Code, Opus and Research. Max starts at $100 a month, billed monthly, with a choice of 5x or 20x Pro's usage. Team covers 2 to 150 people: Standard seats are $25 per seat per month billed monthly or $20 billed annually, and Premium seats, with 5x the usage of Standard, are $125 or $100. Enterprise is $20 per seat per month, billed annually, plus usage at API rates. On the API, per million input/output tokens, Fable 5.1 is $10/$50, Opus 5 is $5/$25, Sonnet 5 is $2/$10 and Haiku 4.5 is $1/$5. The 1M-token context bills at the standard rate, and batch requests cost half.
Qwen charges in different places. Qwen Studio chat is free to use, and the open weights are free to download; you pay for the compute that runs them. The API is pay-as-you-go. On Alibaba Cloud Model Studio's international (Singapore) price list, per million input/output tokens, Qwen3.8-Max is $2/$6 for requests up to 1M tokens, Qwen3.6-Plus is $0.50/$3 for requests up to 256K input tokens and $2/$6 above that, and Qwen3.8-Flash is $0.15/$0.47. Many models on that list include a free quota of 1 million tokens, valid for 90 days and only in the Singapore region. For coding tools, Alibaba Cloud sells a Coding Plan Pro at $50 a month with up to 6,000 requests per five hours, and Qwen Cloud sells a credits-based Token Plan with Personal tiers listed from $8 a month (Lite) to $80 a month (Pro), each currently shown at a limited-time discount.
Claude Pro is the step that unlocks Claude Code, Opus and Research; on Qwen, where chat is free, the main costs are API usage and coding plans. Worked example: an app that sends 10 million input tokens and receives 2 million output tokens a month, in requests under 256K tokens, pays $20 + $20 = $40 on Claude Sonnet 5, $50 + $50 = $100 on Opus 5, $20 + $12 = $32 on Qwen3.8-Max and $5 + $6 = $11 on Qwen3.6-Plus. A 5-person team on Claude Team Standard seats pays $125 a month billed monthly, or $100 a month billed annually. For a coding agent, one developer pays $20 a month for Claude Pro with Claude Code, or runs the free Qwen Code with paid model access such as the $50 Coding Plan Pro, a Token Plan or pay-as-you-go tokens. Each vendor counts tokens with its own tokenizer, so treat per-token comparisons as estimates.
Pros & Cons
Claude
- Four current models, with a 1M-token API context window on Fable 5.1, Opus 5 and Sonnet 5
- Claude Code is included in every paid plan and runs in the terminal, IDE, desktop app and web
- The free plan already includes web search, Artifacts, memory and connectors
- Available on Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry as well as Anthropic's own API
- SSO on Team; SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise
- Opus and Claude Code require a paid plan
- Every plan has usage limits, and paid plans add weekly limits
- Higher API prices: Opus 5 is $5/$25 per million tokens, against $2/$6 for Qwen3.8-Max
- Closed-weight, so you depend on Anthropic or a cloud partner to run it
Qwen
- Open weights on Hugging Face, with Apache 2.0 on Qwen3.8-27B and Qwen3-Coder-Next
- Qwen Studio chat is free to use, on the web and in apps for iOS, Android, macOS and Windows
- Low API prices: Qwen3.8-Max is $2/$6 and Qwen3.8-Flash is $0.15/$0.47 per million tokens
- 1M-token context window on Qwen3.8-Max
- Qwen Code is Apache 2.0 open source and works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini and Qwen APIs or local models
- Qwen Code's free Qwen OAuth tier was discontinued on April 15, 2026
- The Qwen3.8-Max and Qwen3.8-Flash-Next weights use custom licenses rather than Apache 2.0
- Model Studio's free quota lasts 90 days and applies in the Singapore region only
- Coding Plan Pro costs $50 a month, and Alibaba says slots are limited
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Claude if you:
- → Want one polished assistant on web, desktop and mobile, with Sonnet and Haiku on Free and Opus on paid plans
- → Want a coding agent in your subscription: Claude Code comes with Pro at $20 a month
- → Need team administration: SSO on Team, SCIM and audit logs on Enterprise
- → Want Anthropic's current models (Fable 5.1, Opus 5, Sonnet 5 and Haiku 4.5) through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud or Microsoft Foundry
Choose Qwen if you:
- → Need weights you can self-host or fine-tune, such as the Apache 2.0 Qwen3.8-27B
- → Want a chat assistant that is free to use
- → Run high-volume API workloads where per-token price matters most
- → Want an open-source coding agent that works with any model provider, including local models
Bottom Line
Claude (4.8/5 in our review) is the stronger fit if you want a polished assistant and a coding agent in one subscription, or admin controls. Qwen (4.3/5) is the stronger fit if you need open weights you can run yourself, a free chat app or low API prices. The two also mix: Alibaba's Coding Plan works inside Claude Code, and Qwen Code can call Anthropic's API.
Frequently asked questions
Is Qwen better than Claude?
Neither wins everywhere. Claude scores 4.8/5 in our review and Qwen scores 4.3/5, but the right pick depends on the job. Choose Claude for a polished assistant, Claude Code in every paid plan and admin controls. Choose Qwen for open weights you can self-host or fine-tune, a chat app that Qwen says is free to use, or lower API prices.
Is Qwen free, and is Claude free?
Both have free options. Claude's Free plan costs $0 and includes Sonnet and Haiku, web search, Artifacts and memory; Pro is $20 a month, or $17 a month billed annually. Qwen says its assistant, Qwen Studio, is free to use, and its open weights are free to download; Qwen charges for API usage and coding plans, and its Android app lists optional in-app purchases.
Qwen Code vs Claude Code: which should I use?
Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic coding tool for the terminal, VS Code, JetBrains, a desktop app and the web, included in every paid Claude plan. Qwen Code is an Apache 2.0 open-source agent, originally based on Google's Gemini CLI, that works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini and Qwen APIs or local models. Pick Claude Code if you want it bundled with a Claude plan, and Qwen Code if you want open source and a free choice of model provider.
Is Qwen Code still free?
The software is, but the free model access is not. Qwen's documentation says the Qwen OAuth free tier was discontinued on April 15, 2026. Qwen Code still installs at no cost under the Apache 2.0 license, and you connect it to Alibaba Cloud's Coding Plan (Pro is $50 a month), a Token Plan, an API key from a provider such as OpenAI, Anthropic or OpenRouter, or a local model via Ollama or vLLM.
Is Claude open source or open-weight like Qwen?
No. Claude is closed-weight: you use it through Anthropic's apps and API or through Amazon Bedrock, Google Cloud and Microsoft Foundry. Qwen publishes weights on Hugging Face: Qwen3.8-27B and Qwen3-Coder-Next use Apache 2.0, while the Qwen3.8-Max and Qwen3.8-Flash-Next weights use custom licenses, so check each model's license before commercial use.
Which is cheaper for API use?
Qwen, at list prices. Per million input/output tokens, Qwen3.8-Max costs $2/$6 on Alibaba Cloud Model Studio's international price list and Qwen3.8-Flash costs $0.15/$0.47, against $5/$25 for Claude Opus 5, $2/$10 for Sonnet 5 and $1/$5 for Haiku 4.5. For 10 million input and 2 million output tokens a month, that is $32 on Qwen3.8-Max and $40 on Sonnet 5. Tokenizers differ, so real bills can too.
Can I use Qwen models in Claude Code, or Claude models in Qwen Code?
Yes, through compatible APIs. Alibaba Cloud's Coding Plan provides an Anthropic-compatible endpoint and lists Claude Code among its supported tools, and Qwen Cloud's Token Plan also names Claude Code. In the other direction, Qwen Code supports Anthropic's API, so it can run Claude models with an Anthropic API key.