If you only read one line: pick by workload, not by benchmark charts.
For Tracking overseas reaction while it happens; English technical questions, Grok is the more direct fit. For Chinese office documents and tables; Teams already running on Alibaba Cloud, Qwen gets there with less fighting.
Both have free tiers, so cost only separates them once you hit the limits. Qwen takes more text in one go (1,000,000 tokens (qwen3.8-max; 991,808 max input, 131,072 max output) (checked 2026-10-29) vs 500K tokens (grok-4.7) (checked 2026-10-29)), which matters for whole books, long contracts and big codebases.
| Dimension | Grok | Qwen |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing | X Subscription: Free $0; Plus $8/mo; Premium $30/mo; Super $100/mo; Ultra $200/mo (annual billing discounted) (checked 2026-10-29) | Qianwen app free; API qwen3.8-max CNY 12 input and CNY 36 output per million tokens (Beijing region; CNY 1.5 on cache hits) (checked 2026-10-29) |
| Context window | 500K tokens (grok-4.7) (checked 2026-10-29) | 1,000,000 tokens (qwen3.8-max; 991,808 max input, 131,072 max output) (checked 2026-10-29) |
| Platforms | Web, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows, HarmonyOS PC |
| Best for | Tracking overseas reaction while it happens; English technical questions; X creators who post all day | Chinese office documents and tables; Teams already running on Alibaba Cloud; Developers calling a China-hosted model |
| Availability | No mainland China edition; reaching it from there needs a proxy or VPN (checked 2026-10-29). | Directly reachable in mainland China with no proxy, and a China edition exists (checked 2026-10-29). |
Tracking overseas reaction while it happens; English technical questions; X creators who post all day. Its strongest point: Reads live X posts and groups how a topic is argued. Watch out for: States guesses in the same tone as confirmed facts.
Chinese office documents and tables; Teams already running on Alibaba Cloud; Developers calling a China-hosted model. Its strongest point: Balances Chinese and English quality on the same model. Watch out for: Web and app do not offer the same features.
Most people I know keep both tabs open — one for finding things, one for producing the final draft — and stop paying for whichever they touch last.
Grok if you want Tracking overseas reaction while it happens. Qwen if Chinese office documents and tables. Neither has a learning curve worth worrying about past the first day.
Yes — both have free tiers, and the pair covers more ground than either alone.
Qwen takes more text in one go (1,000,000 tokens (qwen3.8-max; 991,808 max input, 131,072 max output) (checked 2026-10-29) vs 500K tokens (grok-4.7) (checked 2026-10-29)), which matters for whole books, long contracts and big codebases.