Qwen (Alibaba)
Free tier available
- Self-hosted (Free)$0
- API (OpenRouter / Alibaba Cloud)$0.12/per 1M input tokens
- API (Qwen 3.6-Plus flagship, Mar 30 2026)$0.90/per 1M input tokens
Our pickA
8.8/10Qwen (Alibaba)
VS
A
8.3/10GitHub Copilot
Multi-model picker: GPT-6.1 Terra (Pro and up, added 2026-10-26), GPT-6.1 Sol (Pro+ and up, added 2026-09-29), Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Pro and up, 2026-09-28), Claude Opus 5.5 (Pro+ and up, 2026-09-22), GPT-6 Sol (Pro+ and up, 2026-09-22), GPT-6 Luna (Pro and up, 2026-09-22), Grok 4.7 (all paid SKUs, 2026-09-21), Grok 4.6 (2026-08-14), Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13, removed 10/19), MAI-Code-1.1-Flash (2026-08-11), Kimi K3 (2026-08-06), Claude Opus 5, GPT-6 Astra, Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash and earlier models per the model policy; Copilot Fusion (GA 2026-10-28, successor to HydraFusion and auto model selection) routes and orchestrates them. Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.7 Code and Claude Opus 4.7 were removed 2026-10-02; six more (Gemini 3.7 Flash, GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4, GPT-5.4 mini, GPT-5 mini, Grok 4.5) were removed 2026-10-19
Qwen (Alibaba) vs GitHub Copilot
Tier-list head-to-head. Qwen (Alibaba) takes the A-tier slot — here's the breakdown.
Last reviewed November 5, 2026· sweep-fresh
Spec sheet
At a glance
| Qwen (Alibaba) | GitHub Copilot | |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | A-tierwin | A-tier |
| Overall score | 8.8 / 10win | 8.3 / 10 |
| Powered by | — | Multi-model picker: GPT-6.1 Terra (Pro and up, added 2026-10-26), GPT-6.1 Sol (Pro+ and up, added 2026-09-29), Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Pro and up, 2026-09-28), Claude Opus 5.5 (Pro+ and up, 2026-09-22), GPT-6 Sol (Pro+ and up, 2026-09-22), GPT-6 Luna (Pro and up, 2026-09-22), Grok 4.7 (all paid SKUs, 2026-09-21), Grok 4.6 (2026-08-14), Gemini 3.7 Flash (2026-08-13, removed 10/19), MAI-Code-1.1-Flash (2026-08-11), Kimi K3 (2026-08-06), Claude Opus 5, GPT-6 Astra, Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash and earlier models per the model policy; Copilot Fusion (GA 2026-10-28, successor to HydraFusion and auto model selection) routes and orchestrates them. Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini 3.6 Flash, Kimi K2.7 Code and Claude Opus 4.7 were removed 2026-10-02; six more (Gemini 3.7 Flash, GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4, GPT-5.4 mini, GPT-5 mini, Grok 4.5) were removed 2026-10-19 |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | $0 | $0 |
| Best for | Developers who want frontier-tier open weights with Apache 2. | Teams already on GitHub who want the broadest frontier-model picker in any coding tool (GPT-6 Astra, Sol an… |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-12 | 2026-11-05 |
Head-to-head
Score showdown
Rated 1-10 on the same rubric across all 130 tools we cover.
Ease of use+2.0 GitHub Copilot
Qwen (Alibaba)
7.0
GitHub Copilot
9.0
Output quality+1.0 Qwen (Alibaba)
Qwen (Alibaba)
9.0
GitHub Copilot
8.0
Value+2.0 Qwen (Alibaba)
Qwen (Alibaba)
10.0
GitHub Copilot
8.0
Features+1.0 Qwen (Alibaba)
Qwen (Alibaba)
9.0
GitHub Copilot
8.0
Overall+0.5 Qwen (Alibaba)
Qwen (Alibaba)
8.8
GitHub Copilot
8.3
What you'll pay
Pricing snapshot
Look past the headline number -- entry-tier limits drive most cost surprises.
GitHub Copilot
Free tier available
- Free$0
- Pro$10/mo
- Pro+$39/mo
Benchmark Head-to-Head
Qwen3.5-397B MoE benchmarks — GitHub Copilot has no published benchmarks
| Benchmark | Description | Score |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | Harder multi-subject reasoning | 83.5% |
| GPQA Diamond | Graduate-level science questions | 78.2% |
| AIME 2025 | 87% | |
| HumanEval | Python code generation | 92.5% |
| SWE-Bench Verified | 69.4% |
The decision
Which should you pick?
Use-case anchors and category strengths, side by side.
Pick Qwen (Alibaba)if…
A
8.8/10- ✓Higher output quality (9.0 vs 8.0) where polish matters more than speed
- ✓Better value at the price you'll actually pay (10.0/10 on value)
- ✓More feature surface area for power users who'll use the depth
- ✓Developers who want frontier-tier open weights with Apache 2.
- ✓Qwen3-Coder-Next is arguably the best local coding model.
Developers who want frontier-tier open weights with Apache 2.0 licensing. Qwen3-Coder-Next is arguably the best local coding model; Qwen3.5-397B is a top-3 open generalist.
Visit Qwen (Alibaba)Pick GitHub Copilotif…
A
8.3/10- ✓Easier to learn and use day-to-day -- friendlier onboarding curve
- ✓Teams already on GitHub who want the broadest frontier-model picker in any coding tool (GPT-6 Astra, Sol and Luna, Claude Opus 5.
- ✓7 as of 2026-09-28) with enterprise-managed defaults, agent-operation guardrails and usage analytics.
Teams already on GitHub who want the broadest frontier-model picker in any coding tool (GPT-6 Astra, Sol and Luna, Claude Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Fable 5.1, Gemini 3.8 Flash, Grok 4.7 as of 2026-09-28) with enterprise-managed defaults, agent-operation guardrails and usage analytics. Business/Enterprise signups reopened 2026-09-03; Free-tier users still get best-in-class inline completions.
Visit GitHub CopilotBottom line
The verdict
Qwen (Alibaba) edges out GitHub Copilot by 0.5 points (8.8 vs 8.3) -- a A-tier vs A-tier split that's narrow but real. Not a blowout; both belong on a shortlist. The score gap shows up most clearly in the categories that matter for Qwen (Alibaba)'s strengths, so if those categories are your priority, the lead translates.
Pricing-wise, both tools have a free tier (Qwen (Alibaba) starts $0, GitHub Copilot starts $0), so you can test either without committing. Compare what each free tier actually unlocks -- usage caps, model access, and feature gates differ a lot more than the headline price suggests, especially as both vendors have tightened limits in 2026.
By use case: pick Qwen (Alibaba) when developers who want frontier-tier open weights with apache 2. Pick GitHub Copilot when teams already on github who want the broadest frontier-model picker in any coding tool (gpt-6 astra, sol and luna, claude opus 5. The two tools aren't fighting for the same person -- they're aiming at adjacent jobs that occasionally overlap. If you're squarely in Qwen (Alibaba)'s lane, the tier-list ranking and the use-case fit point the same direction; if you're in GitHub Copilot's lane, the score gap matters less than the fit.
Bottom line: Qwen (Alibaba) is the safer default for most readers, but GitHub Copilot is competitive enough that the tie-breaker is your specific workload, not the spec sheet.
Keep digging
Compare more & explore
Full Qwen (Alibaba) review
Tier A · 8.8/10
Full GitHub Copilot review
Tier A · 8.3/10
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Built from our daily AI-tool sweep, last touched November 5, 2026. Honest tier-list reviews — no affiliate-link pieces disguised as advice. See the rubric or how we review.