Compare/Head to head

DeepSeek vs Qwen

Same facts, side by side: starting price, free tier, MCP, API and what each one is actually built for.

Starting price

DeepSeek

Free Free tier

DeepSeek is a free AI chat assistant from a Chinese AI lab, with a reasoning mode and web search. Recruiters can use it to draft outreach, rewrite job ads and work through Boolean strings at no cost. There is no paid consumer plan; the chat app is free and the API is billed per token.

Where DeepSeek fits

  • Recruiters who want a capable free assistant for drafting and rewriting
  • Testing prompts before paying for a premium assistant
  • Developers building low-cost internal tools on the API

Qwen

Free Free tier

Qwen is Alibaba's free AI assistant for chat, web search, Deep Research, document reading and image generation. Recruiters can use it to draft outreach, research companies and summarise uploaded documents without paying. The assistant is free; only the developer API is paid.

Where Qwen fits

  • Recruiters who want free Deep Research for company and market briefs
  • Summarising uploaded documents and charts at no cost
  • Trying a capable assistant before paying for one

At a glance

DetailDeepSeekQwen
Starting priceFreeFree
Free tier✓Yes✓Yes
MCP server–No–No
Public API✓Yes✓Yes
Listed underAI assistantsAI assistants

Where they pull apart

DeepSeek

Stands out: The chat app is completely free with no subscription tier, and the API is among the cheapest published, with off-peak rates at half the peak price.

Watch out: DeepSeek's privacy policy says personal data is collected, processed and stored in the People's Republic of China, and it asks users not to submit sensitive personal data, so keep candidate details out of it. There are no team workspaces, admin controls or business plan.

Not the right fit for

  • Teams that paste candidate personal data into chats
  • Companies that need admin controls, SSO or a signed data agreement

Qwen

Stands out: Deep Research, reasoning, image generation and multimodal reading of documents, charts, audio and video all come free, with apps for web, phone and desktop.

Watch out: There is no team plan, admin console or business data agreement for the chat product, so it suits personal use only. Alibaba is a Chinese company, so keep candidate personal data out of chats.

Not the right fit for

  • Teams that need shared workspaces or admin controls
  • Uploading résumés or other candidate personal data

Pros and cons

DeepSeek

  • Free chat app with no subscription needed
  • DeepThink reasoning and web search included free
  • Very low API prices with half-price off-peak hours
  • Personal data is stored in China under its privacy policy
  • No team plan, admin controls or business workspace
  • No built-in connections to email, calendar or recruiting tools

Qwen

  • Free, including Deep Research and image generation
  • Apps on web, mobile, macOS and Windows
  • Reads documents, charts, audio and video
  • No team plan, admin console or business workspace
  • No connectors to email, calendar or recruiting tools
  • Chinese data jurisdiction to weigh for candidate data

What each one costs

DeepSeek

Free

The DeepSeek web and mobile chat app is free to use, and no consumer subscription plan is published. The API is pay-as-you-go from a topped-up balance: the deepseek-flash model costs $0.30 per 1M input tokens (cache miss) and $1.20 per 1M output tokens at peak hours, with off-peak rates at half price; deepseek-v4-pro costs $1.32 input and $3.96 output per 1M tokens at peak. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 15 Oct 2026

Qwen

Free

The Qwen assistant at chat.qwen.ai and in its apps is free to use, and Alibaba publishes no paid consumer plan. The Qwen API, sold through Alibaba Cloud, is billed separately by usage. Confirm current terms on the vendor site.

Checked 15 Oct 2026

Common questions

Can you try DeepSeek or Qwen for free?
DeepSeek and Qwen carry a free tier on our listing.

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Editorial listings, never paid rankings. Prices checked 15 Oct 2026. Confirm current terms on the vendor site. Spot an error?