Aliyun Launches Qwen Code with 2000 Free Daily Calls
Aliyun Tongyi Qianwen Launches Qwen Code with Generous Free Tier
Alibaba Cloud's AI division, Tongyi Qianwen, has officially launched Qwen Code, a cutting-edge AI coding agent designed to streamline developer workflows. The platform offers 2,000 free daily API calls for users in mainland China, with no token restrictions, significantly lowering barriers to AI-assisted programming.
Key Features and Accessibility
Qwen Code operates through a command-line interface, enabling developers to perform tasks like:
- Code generation
- Completion
- Debugging
- Code explanation
The tool requires minimal setup—just install via npx @qwen-code/qwen-code@latest
. Unlike some competitors (including Google's Gemini CLI), Qwen Code imposes no token limits and allows 60 API calls per minute, providing exceptional flexibility.
Regional Availability Differences
The generous 2,000-call daily limit currently applies only to mainland China users. International developers receive 1,000 free calls daily. Alibaba Cloud has made comprehensive documentation available on GitHub to support global adoption.
Technical Backbone: Qwen3-Coder Models
The system leverages the recently released Qwen3-Coder series, featuring:
- 480 billion parameters in flagship model (Qwen3-Coder-480B-A35B-Instruct)
- Mixture of Experts (MoE) architecture
- 256K native context length, extendable to 1M tokens via YaRN technology
Benchmarks show performance comparable to Claude Sonnet4 in code generation and agent-based tasks.
Ecosystem Development and Future Prospects
Alibaba Cloud is actively building an ecosystem around Qwen Code, with plans for:
- Expanded language support
- IDE integrations
- Collaborative coding features
The launch represents a strategic push to dominate China's AI-assisted development market while maintaining global accessibility.
Key Points:
- 2,000 free daily calls for mainland China users (1,000 internationally)
- No token limits and high API call frequency (60/minute)
- Powered by 480B parameter Qwen3-Coder model
- Simple CLI installation and operation
- GitHub resources available for global developers