Cohere (4 models) vs Qwen (Alibaba) (52 models) - compared across composite scores, pricing, capabilities, and context windows.
| Cohere | Score | vs | Qwen (Alibaba) | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Command A | 51 | Qwen3 235B A22B | 54 | |
| Command R+ (08-2024) | 49 | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-04-20 | 40 | |
| Command R (08-2024) | 49 | Qwen3.6 Flash | 40 | |
| Command R7B (12-2024) | 36 | Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct | 35 |
| Capability | Cohere | Qwen (Alibaba) | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
Vision | 0/4 | 22/52 | Qwen (Alibaba) |
Reasoning | 0/4 | 27/52 | Qwen (Alibaba) |
Function Calling | 2/4 | 49/52 | Qwen (Alibaba) |
JSON Mode | 4/4 | 50/52 | Qwen (Alibaba) |
Web Search | 0/4 | 0/52 | Tie |
Streaming | 4/4 | 52/52 | Qwen (Alibaba) |
Image Output | 0/4 | 0/52 | Tie |
| Metric | Cohere | Qwen (Alibaba) |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest Input (per 1M tokens) | $0.037 Command R7B (12-2024) | $0.033 Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 |
| Cheapest Output (per 1M tokens) | $0.150 | $0.100 |
| Most Expensive Input (per 1M tokens) | $2.50 Command A | $1.04 Qwen3.6 Max Preview |
| Most Expensive Output (per 1M tokens) | $10.00 | $6.24 |
| Free Models | 0 | 2 |
| Max Context Window | 256K | 1.0M |
| Model | Score | Input $/M | Output $/M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Command A | 51 | $2.50 | $10.00 |
| Command R+ (08-2024) | 49 | $2.50 | $10.00 |
| Command R (08-2024) | 49 | $0.150 | $0.600 |
| Command R7B (12-2024) | 36 | $0.037 | $0.150 |
| Model | Score | Input $/M | Output $/M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.5 397B A17B | 80 | $0.390 | $2.34 |
| Qwen3.5-122B-A10B | 78 | $0.260 | $2.08 |
| Qwen3.5-27B | 77 | $0.195 | $1.56 |
| Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | 76 | $0.140 | $1.00 |
| Qwen3.6 Plus | 75 | $0.325 | $1.95 |
| Qwen3.6 Max Preview | 75 | $1.04 | $6.24 |
| Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct | 69 | $0.200 | $0.880 |
| Qwen3.5-Flash | 69 | $0.065 | $0.260 |
| Qwen3 Max Thinking | 68 | $0.780 | $3.90 |
| Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Thinking | 68 | $0.260 | $2.60 |
| Qwen3 Max | 67 | $0.780 | $3.90 |
| Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (free) | 67 | Free | Free |
| Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct | 67 | $0.090 | $1.10 |
| Qwen3.5-9B | 67 | $0.040 | $0.150 |
| Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | 65 | $0.150 | $1.50 |
| Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | 65 | $0.071 | $0.100 |
| Qwen3 30B A3B Thinking 2507 | 64 | $0.080 | $0.400 |
| Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking | 64 | $0.098 | $0.780 |
| Qwen3 30B A3B | 64 | $0.090 | $0.450 |
| Qwen3 8B | 61 | $0.050 | $0.400 |
Compare any two AI providers side-by-side.
Qwen's strategy mirrors Alibaba's cloud infrastructure approach - flood the market with options to capture different segments, from researchers needing free access to enterprises requiring specific capabilities. With 45/50 models supporting function calling versus Cohere's 2/4, Qwen clearly prioritizes breadth over curation, though their average score of 45/100 suggests quantity hasn't translated to consistent quality.
Command R+ represents Cohere's ceiling at 38/100, while Qwen3.5-Flash hits 60/100 - but this comparison misses the portfolio dynamics. Cohere's tight 4-model lineup shows minimal variance (all scoring 36-38), while Qwen's 50 models likely include many sub-30 performers to drag their average down to 45/100, suggesting Cohere optimizes for consistency over breakthrough performance.
Cohere's premium pricing ($0.150-$10.00/M) targets enterprise RAG and search use cases where their specialized training justifies the markup, despite lacking vision (0/4) and reasoning (0/4) capabilities. Qwen's $0.090-$4.16/M range and 2 free models reflect Alibaba's cloud-first strategy to undercut Western competitors while offering 19 vision-capable models that Cohere entirely lacks.
Qwen dominates multimodal with 19/50 vision models versus Cohere's 0/4, plus 1M token context windows that dwarf Cohere's 256K limit. However, neither provider offers web search (0% for both), and Qwen's 24/50 reasoning-capable models still means over half their portfolio can't handle complex logical tasks despite the multimodal strengths.
Cohere's single open source model (likely Command-R) among 4 total suggests a traditional SaaS playbook focused on API revenue, while Qwen's 36/50 open source ratio indicates Alibaba is playing a longer game - building developer mindshare first, monetizing later. With Qwen's lowest price at $0.090/M versus Cohere's $0.150/M minimum, Alibaba clearly subsidizes adoption to challenge Western AI incumbents.