In a move that could significantly impact the landscape for developers and AI enthusiasts, Tongyi Qianwen’s Qwen Code has introduced a new, generous free tier. The new offering provides users with 2,000 free requests per day, along with a rate limit of 60 requests per minute, according to details on the project’s official NPM page.
This new free tier is available through Qwen’s OAuth authentication method, which is the recommended way to use the service. Unlike regional free tiers that have been noted to have different limits (such as 2,000 free API calls per day on ModelScope for mainland China and up to 1,000 on OpenRouter internationally), the new Qwen OAuth benefit appears to apply globally, without token limits per day. The service is aimed at a wide array of uses, from code generation and refactoring to automating Git workflows and conducting security audits.
The introduction of this free tier has sparked considerable discussion within developer communities, with many noting its potential to compete with other AI coding assistants. While some users on forums have expressed concerns about what constitutes a “request” and the total number of calls a complex agentic task may consume, the consensus is that the new daily limit is a substantial offering for individual users and hobbyists.