Models in China · Close
DeepSeek vs Qwen in mainland China (2026): close, reasoning starts with DeepSeek
The catalog says DeepSeek and Qwen are close for general use. For reasoning and code, open DeepSeek first. For office work and Alibaba Cloud documents, Qwen is close enough to switch. Qwen is the former Tongyi Qianwen, and tongyi.com redirects to qianwen.com. Both open directly in mainland China. DeepSeek’s web chat is mainly free to use. The API pricing page was blocked by a captcha this time, so no unit price is copied. No personal membership price was checked for Qwen on the page opened this time.
Pick a general model that opens in mainland China and use it as the everyday default.
No score. The order is still the four ranking steps.
1. Can you open it directly in mainland China
2. Can it finish the job named in that column
First pick
DeepSeek
When reasoning or writing code, it is more willing to finish the steps. The web version is mainly free to use. Close to Qwen for general use. Reasoning and code more often open DeepSeek first. For office work and Alibaba Cloud documents, you can nearly switch to Qwen.
Alternate
Qwen
On reading documents, office work, and Alibaba Cloud, it is nearly even with DeepSeek. Close to DeepSeek, with a different emphasis: office work and Alibaba Cloud documents can start with Qwen.
3. Is the price clear, with a usable free tier or trial
First pick
DeepSeek
Web chat is currently mainly free to use. The API on platform.deepseek.com is billed by usage. Opening the pricing page this time was stopped by a captcha, so no unit price is written here.
Alternate
Qwen
You can use the chat page first. This list did not find a personal membership price on the page opened this time.
4. Does Chinese work
Sources are the catalog entries and the official sites linked on each tool page. Last checked 2026-11-11.