Qwen
Alibaba's free Qwen AI assistant for chat, web search, deep research, document reading and image generation.
Free API
Bottom line
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.
Stands out for: 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 for: 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.
Overview
Qwen is the AI assistant from Alibaba's Qwen team, powered by the Qwen family of open-source and proprietary models. It runs at chat.qwen.ai and in apps for iOS, Android, macOS and Windows, and Alibaba describes it as free to use and open to all.
For recruiters, the everyday uses are drafting outreach and job ads, researching a client or target company with Search, and summarising long documents. Deep Research runs multi-step searches and returns a readable report, useful for a market map or a briefing before a client call. Thinking mode handles harder reasoning tasks.
Qwen also reads images, charts, audio and video, and generates and edits images through Qwen VLo. Web Dev builds a simple web page from a prompt, which can help with a quick job landing page mock-up.
There is no paid consumer plan and no team workspace. The paid side is the Qwen API on Alibaba Cloud, priced per token and compatible with the OpenAI API format.
Who it's for
Best for
- 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
Not ideal for
- Teams that need shared workspaces or admin controls
- Uploading résumés or other candidate personal data
Key features
Free chat. Full assistant on web, iOS, Android, macOS and Windows at no cost.
Deep Research. Runs multi-step web searches and writes a readable report.
Thinking and Search. Reasoning mode for complex questions, with live web results.
Multimodal. Reads documents, images, charts, audio and video.
Image generation. Creates and edits images from a prompt.
AI features
| What the AI does | Plan |
|---|---|
| Drafts outreach, job ads and summaries | Free |
| Deep Research reports on companies and markets | Free |
| Reads uploaded documents, images and charts | Free |
| Generates and edits images | Free |
Only features named in the vendor's own documentation. Anything sold separately is marked as an add-on.
Pricing
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. Vendors change prices without notice.
Is Qwen expensive?
Qwen starts at Free. We list 21 AI assistants tools in total. 18 have a free tier, and those with a public price typically start around $19 a month.
- 2 quote-based
- 18 free tier
- 14 public price
Worked out automatically from every AI assistants listing, so it updates as the directory changes.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Free, including Deep Research and image generation
- Apps on web, mobile, macOS and Windows
- Reads documents, charts, audio and video
Cons
- 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's new at Qwen
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How Qwen compares
See all Qwen alternatives, with what each one does differently and a head to head for every pairing.
| Tool | Free tier | From | MCP | API | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen (this tool) | ✓ | Free | – | ✓ | |
| | ✓ | $8/mo | – | ✓ | Compare |
| | ✓ | $4.99/mo | – | ✓ | Compare |
 DeepSeek Another free assistant with a reasoning mode and a cheaper API. | ✓ | Free | – | ✓ | Compare |
$8/mo Free tier API
Paid plans add projects, scheduled tasks and Office extensions, plus a Business plan for teams.
$4.99/mo Free tier API
Lives inside Gmail, Docs and Drive for teams on Google Workspace.
DeepSeekFree Free tier API
Another free assistant with a reasoning mode and a cheaper API.
Your next step
Shortlisting Qwen?
Still deciding? Ask an AI assistant about Qwen.
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