Qwen (Alibaba) vs GitHub Copilot
Which one should you pick? Here's the full breakdown.
Qwen (Alibaba)
Alibaba's open-weights family -- Qwen3.5, Qwen3-Coder-Next, Qwen3-VL, Qwen3-Max. Apache 2.0 flagship sizes.
GitHub Copilot
AI code assistant that lives in your editor -- autocomplete on steroids
Powered by GPT-5.4
| Category | Qwen (Alibaba) | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 7.0 | 9.0 |
| Output Quality | 9.0 | 8.0 |
| Value | 10.0 | 8.0 |
| Features | 9.0 | 8.0 |
| Overall | 8.8 | 8.3 |
Pricing Comparison
| Feature | Qwen (Alibaba) | GitHub Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Starting Price | $0 | $0 |
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% |
Which Should You Pick?
Pick Qwen (Alibaba) if...
- ✓Higher output quality (9 vs 8)
- ✓Better value for money (10/10)
- ✓More features (9 vs 8)
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 Copilot if...
- ✓Easier to use (9 vs 7)
Any developer who wants productivity gains without changing their workflow. It works in your existing editor and the inline suggestions are the best in the business.
Visit GitHub CopilotOur Verdict
Qwen (Alibaba) edges out GitHub Copilot with a 8.8 vs 8.3 overall score. Both are solid picks, but Qwen (Alibaba) has the advantage in output quality.