OpenCode vs Qwen Code: Which AI Agent Is Better?
An in-depth comparison of OpenCode and Qwen Code across output quality, autonomy, reliability, speed, value, and ease of use. Vote for your favorite.
An in-depth comparison of OpenCode and Qwen Code across output quality, autonomy, reliability, speed, value, and ease of use. Vote for your favorite.
Either way, you pay for the model calls. A median coding-agent day on our gateway is 95 requests and 8.6 million tokens. The table prices every step at one model’s rate.
Both run on Standard Compute, where each step goes to the cheapest model that can do it: routine steps go to efficient open models, hard ones to frontier models such as Claude Fable 5.1 or GPT-6 Astra.
| Model | Typical day | Busy day |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 5.5 | $7.34 | $59.10 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $3.67 | $29.55 |
| GPT-6 Luna | $0.23 | $2.43 |
Fixed monthly plans from $19. Eligible new accounts can try $0.25 of compute first, no card. Trial terms
Pick a winner in each category. You can change your vote anytime.
OpenCodeQwen CodeChoose OpenCode if you are terminal users who want a polished AI coding interface with LSP support. Choose Qwen Code if you are developers who want a free, Claude Code-style terminal agent that runs Qwen models next to any other provider.
Editorially this matchup is a dead heat: each agent leads in 1 of our six categories. On price, OpenCode runs free (mit) / free zen models / go $10/mo and is open source; Qwen Code runs free (apache 2.0), bring your own provider and is open source.
What it costs to run OpenCode or Qwen Code
Best API for OpenCode →
7 options compared, with prices and limits
Best API for Qwen Code →
4 options compared, with prices and limits
Standard Compute sends each step to the cheapest model that can do it, on providers we vet for price, uptime and speed. Plans start at $19 a month, and eligible new accounts can try $0.25 of compute with no card. Choose your agent below to connect.
See the trial and activation steps →
More on OpenCode: OpenCode Pricing: Plans, Subscription and API Costs (2026) · How do I use GPT models like GPT-5.6 in OpenCode?
OpenCode is an open-source (MIT) AI coding agent best known for its terminal TUI, now also shipping a desktop app and IDE extensions with OpenCode 2. It connects to 75+ LLM providers through models.dev, has LSP integration for real code understanding, and runs several sessions in parallel. The tool is free; for models you bring your own key, use OpenCode's free Zen models, pay as you go on Zen, or subscribe to its Go plan ($10/month, Go Plus $40).
Qwen Code is Alibaba's Qwen team's open-source coding agent. It was originally based on Gemini CLI v0.8.2, stopped syncing with upstream at v0.1 and has been developed on its own since, with frequent releases (v0.25.2 on October 15, 2026). It ships subagents, agent teams, skills, hooks, MCP, plan mode, LSP and git worktrees, plus VS Code, JetBrains and Zed plugins, a desktop app and Telegram, DingTalk, WeChat and Feishu channels. Unlike Gemini CLI it speaks the OpenAI, Anthropic and Gemini APIs, so any compatible provider works through modelProviders in ~/.qwen/settings.json. The free Qwen OAuth tier ended on April 15, 2026: the tool is still free, and the models come from Alibaba's Coding Plan or Token Plan, a built-in third-party provider, a local model or a custom provider.
OpenCode and Qwen Code both run on Standard Compute
