Noometry

Alternatives

Best Open-Source Qwen Alternatives in October 2026

The strongest open-weight alternative to Qwen as of October 2026 is Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI: 2.8 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 2.0× pricier; open weights. Compared against Qwen3.8 Max, Qwen's current top model.

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  1. Kimi K3 Moonshot AI

    2.8 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 2.0× pricier; open weights.

    Score 59.5, $6 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  2. GLM-5.3 Z.ai (Zhipu)

    1.9 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 1.4× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 54.8, $2.15 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  3. DeepSeek V4 Pro DeepSeek

    2.4 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 3.0× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 54.3, $0.99 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  4. MiMo-V2.6-Pro Xiaomi

    6.5 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 5.5× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 50.3, $0.54 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  5. Inkling-Small Thinking Machines Lab

    10.3 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 4.7× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 46.5, $0.64 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  6. Hy4 preview Tencent

    11.5 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 2.7× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 45.3, $1.13 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  7. MiniMax-M3 MiniMax

    13.0 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 5.7× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 43.8, $0.52 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

  8. Gemma 4 31B IT Google

    13.2 points behind Qwen3.8 Max, 19.7× cheaper per token; open weights.

    Score 43.5, $0.15 per M tokens blended.Compare with Qwen3.8 Max

More: All alternatives, Cheaper, For coding

Frequently asked questions

What is the best alternative to Qwen?

The strongest open-weight alternative to Qwen as of October 2026 is Kimi K3 from Moonshot AI: 2.8 points ahead of Qwen3.8 Max, 2.0× pricier; open weights. Compared against Qwen3.8 Max, Qwen's current top model.

How were these alternatives chosen?

Each is the highest-ranked model from a different provider with downloadable weights, compared on the Noometry Index against Qwen3.8 Max.