Qwen Code
FreemiumThe open-source AI coding agent that lives in your terminal.
Published 27 September 2026
Scores
Popularity3/5
27K+ GitHub stars places it among the more established vendor-CLI coding agents, though well behind OpenCode, Cline, and GitHub Copilot in overall community size.
Learning Curve3/5
Terminal-first setup is straightforward for anyone used to a CLI agent, and defaulting to Qwen3-Coder removes an initial model-choice decision, though picking a different provider or configuring MCP servers takes more familiarity.
Flexibility4/5
Accepts any OpenAI-compatible endpoint despite its Qwen-first branding, plus MCP integration and multi-IDE support, giving it real configurability beyond its default model pairing.
Performance4/5
Qwen3-Coder's 69.6% SWE-bench Verified score is genuinely competitive, ahead of the Gemini build the tool was forked from and within range of Claude Sonnet-tier results.
Portability4/5
Apache-2.0 licensed and works with any OpenAI-compatible provider, not just Qwen models, so it avoids hard lock-in even though its documentation and defaults are Qwen-centric.
About Qwen Code
Qwen Code is Alibaba's open-source terminal AI coding agent, forked from Gemini CLI and re-optimized around the Qwen3-Coder model family. It's fully free and Apache-2.0 licensed, running as a CLI with native integrations for VS Code, Zed, and JetBrains IDEs. Despite being built by and for Alibaba's own Qwen models, it's genuinely model-agnostic in practice: it accepts any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, so it can run against GPT, Claude, Gemini, or local models via Ollama just as easily as Qwen3-Coder itself, making it the most open of the vendor-CLI coding agent cluster (which also includes ZCode, Kimi Code, and Mistral Vibe), all built by a model lab around their own flagship model but usable with other providers.
The default pairing, Qwen3-Coder, is a genuinely competitive model on its own merits, scoring 69.6% on SWE-bench Verified, ahead of the Gemini 2.5 Pro build it was forked from, and within range of Claude Sonnet-tier performance. Agent features include auto-memory (retaining project context across sessions), auto-skills, and MCP server integration for extending the agent's tool access.
The free OAuth tier for Qwen's own hosted models was discontinued on April 15, 2026; for the best first-party experience today, users typically either bring their own API key to any provider or subscribe to Alibaba Cloud's Qwen Coding Plan, a fixed monthly subscription (Lite and Pro tiers) covering up to 90K coding requests per month on the latest Qwen models, which also works with several other CLI agents including Claude Code, Cline, and Cursor.
Key Features
- Apache-2.0 licensed, fully open source
- Optimized for Qwen3-Coder (69.6% SWE-bench Verified) but accepts any OpenAI-compatible endpoint
- Native integrations with VS Code, Zed, and JetBrains IDEs
- Auto-memory — retains relevant project context automatically across sessions
- Auto-skills and MCP server integration for extending agent tool access
- Free BYOK usage, or a fixed-price Alibaba Cloud Qwen Coding Plan subscription for hosted models
- Forked from Gemini CLI, re-optimized around the Qwen model family
Pros
- Fully free, Apache-2.0-licensed core with no feature gating — among the most open of the vendor-backed CLI agents
- Genuinely model-agnostic despite being built around Qwen — works with any OpenAI-compatible provider
- Qwen3-Coder is independently competitive, beating the Gemini build it forked from on SWE-bench Verified
- Native multi-editor integration (VS Code, Zed, JetBrains) beyond just the terminal
- Backed by Alibaba's ongoing Qwen model investment and release cadence
Cons
- The original free-forever OAuth access to Qwen's own hosted models was discontinued in April 2026
- Best first-party experience now requires either a separate API key or Alibaba Cloud's paid Coding Plan subscription
- Smaller community and slower feature cadence than OpenCode or Cline
- Documentation and community discussion skew toward the Qwen model ecosystem even though other providers are supported
Qwen Code Pricing
Freemium- · Free, Apache-2.0-licensed CLI agent — bring your own API key to any OpenAI-compatible provider
- · Local model support via Ollama
- · Fixed monthly access to the latest Qwen models via Alibaba Cloud Model Studio
- · Also usable with Claude Code, Cline, and Cursor
- · Up to 90K coding requests per month on the latest Qwen models
- · Also usable with Claude Code, Cline, and Cursor
Tools Related to Qwen Code
Integrates with Qwen Code(1)
Alibaba's terminal coding agent, built on and optimized for Qwen models such as Qwen3-Coder.
Alternatives to Qwen Code(12)
oh-my-pi is a feature-heavy Pi fork with 31 tools and 60+ model providers; Qwen Code is Alibaba's terminal agent tuned for Qwen3-Coder. oh-my-pi for breadth, Qwen Code for a vendor-optimized open-weight setup.
Kilo Code is model-agnostic across VS Code, JetBrains, CLI, and cloud; Qwen Code is Alibaba's terminal agent optimized for Qwen3-Coder. Kilo Code for editor integration and model choice, Qwen Code for a Qwen-tuned CLI.
Both are open-source vendor terminal agents: Grok Build runs up to eight parallel sub-agents on Grok, Qwen Code is tuned for Qwen3-Coder and any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Pick by model family and whether you need parallel runs.
Both are open-source vendor terminal agents: Qwen Code is tuned for Qwen3-Coder and accepts any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, DeepSeek's harness is a plugin-built developer preview for DeepSeek models. Pick by the open-weight model family you run.
Codex is OpenAI's agent with cloud sandboxes and IDE extensions; Qwen Code is Alibaba's Apache-2.0 terminal agent optimized for Qwen3-Coder but open to any OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Codex for OpenAI models, Qwen Code for open weights.
Pi is a minimal, model-agnostic terminal harness with four core tools; Qwen Code is a fuller terminal agent tuned for Qwen3-Coder. Pi for building your own agent, Qwen Code for a ready Qwen setup.
Learning Resources
No resources yet — check back soon.
Vendor
Alibaba Cloud
Website →Tags
Details
- Maintained
- Yes
- Primary languages
- JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, Java
- Type
- AI IDE
- Open source
- Yes
- GitHub stars
- 28.1k
- AI features
- Chat, Agent, Inline edit
- Stars updated
- 2026-09-23