Qwen (Alibaba) vs Microsoft 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.
Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft's answer to ChatGPT -- free GPT-4 access with Bing search built in, but it feels like a corporate product
| Category | Qwen (Alibaba) | Microsoft Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 7.0 | 8.0 |
| Output Quality | 9.0 | 7.0 |
| Value | 10.0 | 8.0 |
| Features | 9.0 | 7.0 |
| Overall | 8.8 | 7.5 |
Pricing Comparison
| Feature | Qwen (Alibaba) | Microsoft Copilot |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Starting Price | $0 | $0 |
Benchmark Head-to-Head
Qwen3.5-397B MoE benchmarks — Microsoft 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 7)
- ✓Better value for money (10/10)
- ✓More features (9 vs 7)
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 Microsoft Copilot if...
- ✓Easier to use (8 vs 7)
Users already deep in the Microsoft ecosystem who want free GPT-4 access with web search built in.
Visit Microsoft CopilotOur Verdict
Qwen (Alibaba) is the clear winner here with 8.8/10 vs 7.5/10. Microsoft Copilot isn't bad, but Qwen (Alibaba) outperforms it across the board. Pick Microsoft Copilot only if users already deep in the microsoft ecosystem who want free gpt-4 access with web search built in.