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Qwen
8.8/10
"The open-source giant—Qwen 3.5's 397B MoE beats GPT-5.2 at 60% lower cost, fully free under Apache 2.0."
Alibaba's Qwen 3.5—397B MoE model (17B active), 200+ languages, native multimodal, visual agents. Open-source Apache 2.0.
Best for:DevelopersResearchersSelf-HostingMultilingual Applications
Free / Open Source (Apache 2.0) / API from $0.46/M tokens
Verified Tool
About Qwen
Qwen by Alibaba Cloud is the fastest-evolving open-source AI family. Qwen 3.5 (February 16, 2026) is the flagship: 397B total parameters with sparse MoE activating only 17B per pass—60% cheaper and 8x more efficient than its predecessor. Claims to outperform GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3 Pro on benchmarks.
Qwen 3.5 features: 1M token context window, native multimodal (text, images, audio, video up to 2 hours), visual agentic capabilities for autonomous mobile/desktop app control, pixel-level grounding, 200+ languages and dialects, dual modes (Thinking for deep reasoning, Fast for quick response). 19x faster at decoding 256K token contexts.
Recent releases: Qwen-Image-2.0 (Feb 9, near-perfect text rendering), Qwen3-Coder-Next (Feb 2, coding agents with hybrid attention + MoE), Qwen3-ASR & Qwen3-ForcedAligner (Jan 28, speech recognition), Qwen3-TTS (Jan 2026, voice cloning). All open-source Apache 2.0.
Pricing via Alibaba Cloud Model Studio: pay-as-you-go at ~$0.46/M input tokens, ~$1.84/M output tokens for Qwen3-Max. Free tier (Singapore region). Savings plans $10-5,000. Available on Hugging Face, OpenRouter, Groq (~$0.29/M tokens). Coding plans: Lite $10/mo, Pro $50/mo. Self-hosting is free under Apache 2.0 license.
Powers Alibaba services including Airbnb customer service. Alibaba pledged RMB 380B ($52B) in AI infrastructure investment.
Key Features
Qwen 3.5 (397B MoE, 17B Active)
1M Token Context Window
Native Multimodal (Text/Image/Audio/Video)
Visual Agentic Capabilities
200+ Languages & Dialects
Voice Cloning (Qwen3-TTS)
Deep Research & Image Generation
The Good
- Apache 2.0 license—fully free for commercial use
- Qwen 3.5 outperforms GPT-5.2 on benchmarks
- 200+ language support is widest available
- 60% cheaper, 8x more efficient than predecessor
The Not-So-Good
- Documentation primarily in Chinese
- Self-hosting needs significant GPU resources
- Web interface less polished than ChatGPT
- API availability limited outside Alibaba Cloud
Editor's Review
Editor's Review (February 2026)
Qwen 3.5 is a game-changer: 397B parameters with MoE activating only 17B per pass delivers performance rivaling GPT-5.2 at a fraction of the cost. The pace of releases is staggering—Qwen3.5, Qwen-Image-2.0, Qwen3-Coder-Next—all under Apache 2.0. For open-source AI, nothing comes close.
What We Love:
• Qwen 3.5 MoE is 60% cheaper and 8x more efficient while outperforming larger models
• Visual agentic capabilities enable autonomous control of mobile and desktop apps
• 200+ languages supported—widest multilingual coverage of any major model
• Apache 2.0 license means full commercial freedom with zero licensing cost
What Could Be Better:
• Documentation is primarily in Chinese, creating barriers for non-Chinese speakers
• Web interface at qwen.ai is functional but less polished than ChatGPT
• Self-hosting the full 397B model requires significant GPU infrastructure
• API availability through Alibaba Cloud can be limited outside Asia
Who Should Use It:
Researchers and developers who want state-of-the-art AI without licensing restrictions. The Apache 2.0 license means full commercial freedom. For multilingual applications (200+ languages), visual agents, or self-hosted deployments, Qwen 3.5 is the strongest open-source option available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q:What is Qwen 3.5?
Released February 16, 2026, Qwen 3.5 uses a 397B parameter sparse MoE architecture, activating only 17B parameters per pass. This makes it 60% cheaper and 8x more efficient. It supports 1M token context, 200+ languages, native multimodal input, and visual agentic capabilities.
Q:Is Qwen really free for commercial use?
Yes! Qwen models are released under the Apache 2.0 license—full commercial use, modification, and distribution without restriction. Self-host on your own infrastructure for free. API access via Alibaba Cloud starts at ~$0.46/M input tokens.
Q:How does Qwen 3.5 compare to GPT-5.2?
Alibaba claims Qwen 3.5 outperforms GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3 Pro on multiple benchmarks. Its MoE architecture activates only 17B of 397B parameters, making it significantly cheaper. The unbeatable advantage: completely free and open-source under Apache 2.0.
Q:What are visual agentic capabilities?
Qwen 3.5 can autonomously perform actions across mobile and desktop applications—clicking buttons, filling forms, navigating interfaces. It uses pixel-level grounding to interact with on-screen elements, enabling AI agents that operate apps like a human user.
Tool Information
Pricing ModelFree
Starting PriceFree / Open Source (Apache 2.0) / API from $0.46/M tokens
CategoryAI Assistants
Last UpdatedFeb 2026
