Qwen
Qwen is Alibaba Cloud's family of large language models · first released in 2023 · a large set of open-weight models plus API-only flagships.
Text reviewed October 5, 2026
Qwen is Alibaba Cloud's family of large language models · first released in 2023 · a large set of open-weight models plus API-only flagships.
Basic
Alibaba Cloud released the first Qwen models in 2023 and has shipped new generations every year since, in many sizes from small models that run on a laptop to large mixture-of-experts models. Many Qwen models are released with open weights, often under the Apache 2.0 license, while the largest "Max" models are served through Alibaba Cloud's API.
Deep
The Qwen family includes chat, reasoning, coding, vision and audio variants. Qwen3 (2025) introduced hybrid models that can answer directly or think first. Because many sizes are open-weight, Qwen models are widely fine-tuned and hosted by third-party providers.
Expert
License terms differ by model: check each model card. Open-weight Qwen models appear on many hosts, so the same model can have very different prices and speeds; BenchGecko tracks each provider offer.
Alibaba keeps shipping new Qwen models; the live block on this page lists the newest ones tracked on BenchGecko with their release dates, prices and BenchGecko scores, so this definition never has to name a "latest" model.
Depending on why you're here
- ·Alibaba's AI models
- ·Many versions are free to download
- ·Open-weight sizes for self-hosting; API flagships for top quality
- ·Check the license per model
- ·See /family/qwen for every tracked model
- ·Open weights plus Alibaba Cloud API: two paths to market
- ·Dated Alibaba figures are on the economy pages
- ·Many open-weight sizes, dense and mixture-of-experts
- ·Hybrid thinking models since Qwen3