Write, summarize, explain
You ask a question or hand over a text to rework. Qwen answers in your language. The “Thinking” mode takes longer and lays out its reasoning for hard questions.
AI tools · Assistants
Qwen pricing, use cases, and first steps
Qwen is the assistant from the Chinese group Alibaba, an e-commerce giant. It opens in the browser at chat.qwen.ai. You write to it as you would to ChatGPT: it drafts, summarizes documents, searches the web, understands images and videos, creates images, and builds small web pages. Its apps are called “Qwen Studio.” It is free to use.
Qwen has a free plan. The recommended plan to start with: Free. Prices checked on October 3, 2026 on the vendor’s official page.
QwenAlibaba’s free assistant: text, search, images, web pages- Vendor
- Alibaba Cloud (China, published from Singapore)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Recommended plan
- Free
- In the European Union
- Partly available
- Page checked on
- October 3, 2026
What Qwen does
Who it’s for: curious people who want to try a free, full-featured assistant, for topics with no confidential data.
Search the web
Qwen checks recent web pages before answering, and lists its sources. Without this option, it answers from memory and may be out of date.
In-depth research
Qwen reads many pages, over several minutes, then writes a structured report. Save it for topics that deserve more than a quick answer.
Also
- Read your documents, images, and videos
- Create images
- Build a small web page
- Talk out loud
Qwen pricing
Alibaba does not publish a price list for the consumer assistant. Alibaba Cloud’s pricing is for developers and businesses.
| Plan | Price | Who it’s for |
|---|---|---|
| Free Recommended to start | Free | Everyone |
What the free plan includes
The whole assistant was free at the time of our check: chat, search, documents, images, page creation. The app stores report no in-app purchases. Usage limits may apply without being published.
Nova’s advice
Pay nothing: there is no subscription to buy. The real question is not the price but the data. Keep Qwen for public topics and use the assistant your company chose for everything else.
A first try, in 5 minutes
Your data. A service from the Chinese group Alibaba, published by its Singapore subsidiary. We could not verify where conversations are stored: don’t put anything confidential in it.
What it does less well
- Where your conversations are stored and how they are used is not clear for a user in France. No internal documents, no customer data, no employee names.
- The “Qwen Studio” iPhone app could not be found on the French App Store during our check. It is available on Google Play.
Ask for a briefing on a public topicQwen- Open chat.qwen.ai and log in.
- Turn on web search (“Search”) so Qwen relies on recent pages.
- Paste the prompt below. It contains no internal information: that is on purpose.
- Read the answer, then open two of the cited sources to check the figures.
- Ask for a shorter version, in ten lines, to share it.
The prompt to copy
Explain in simple terms what mandatory e-invoicing changes for a small French business. Give the main steps, the dates to remember, and the common mistakes. Cite your sources.
Alternatives to Qwen
Mistral Vibe
A European assistant, hosted in Europe, for everyday work.
DeepSeek
The other major free Chinese assistant, with the same questions about data.
Kimi
A Chinese assistant known for reading long documents and creating presentations.
Ollama
To run Qwen’s models on your computer, without sending anything online.
ChatGPT
The reference, with business plans and clear privacy settings.
Frequently asked questions about Qwen
How much does Qwen cost?
Free. Prices checked on October 3, 2026 on the vendor’s official page.
Can you use Qwen for free?
Yes. The whole assistant was free at the time of our check: chat, search, documents, images, page creation. The app stores report no in-app purchases. Usage limits may apply without being published.
What happens to my data with Qwen?
A service from the Chinese group Alibaba, published by its Singapore subsidiary. We could not verify where conversations are stored: don’t put anything confidential in it.
What are the alternatives to Qwen?
Mistral Vibe: A European assistant, hosted in Europe, for everyday work. DeepSeek: The other major free Chinese assistant, with the same questions about data. Kimi: A Chinese assistant known for reading long documents and creating presentations. Ollama: To run Qwen’s models on your computer, without sending anything online. ChatGPT: The reference, with business plans and clear privacy settings.
Official pages consulted
Page checked on October 3, 2026. Brands are named to identify the tools. No affiliation.