The best alternatives to Qwen Code
Qwen Code might not be the right fit: the price, a missing feature or a payment model you don't like. These are the closest alternatives in our catalog, ordered by rating, with the full review of each one.
Why look for a Qwen Code alternative
Qwen Code keeps shipping at a near-daily pace, with version 0.21.7 out on 6 August 2026 and the repo climbing from 26.3k to close to 26.8k stars in two weeks, while open issues rose from July's roughly 600 to 871. Access still has no free tier since it closed on 15 April 2026: the international paid plan runs from $50 a month and the Chinese one from ¥200, with the first month discounted to ¥39.90.
What its own users repeat in the August 8, 2026 sweep:
- The free tier of its own authentication was discontinued on 15 April 2026 and no longer even appears as an option in the menu (strong theme)
- The official paid door has harsh small print: the international plan runs from $50 a month with limited slots restocked daily and no refunds, and the middle Lite plan stopped selling on 20 March 2026 and stopped renewing on 13 April 2026 (strong theme)
- Two official documents contradict each other: the tool's docs recommend the paid plan precisely for headless setups, and the provider's docs ban using that same key in non-interactive scenarios, with revocation as the penalty (present theme)
- Price changes by region: the international tariff is $50 a month and the domestic one is ¥200 a month, with the first month at ¥39.90, different products rather than the same figure converted (present theme)
- Open issue volume remains huge, at 871 as of today versus roughly 600 in July, and the release pace drags along unresolved interface bugs (present theme)
Best alternatives to Qwen Code
The open source terminal agent that works with any model provider.
Moonshot's terminal agent: open source with very low API prices.
Google's terminal agent, open source with a generous free tier.
What the internet says about each alternative
OpenCode 4/5 · Free
It is still the most actively developed open terminal agent in the catalogue, shipping releases almost daily and free to run with any provider. The paid plan's access failure report that has been open since 22 July remains unresolved, and the daily flow of new issues shows no sign of slowing.
Where it wins: Open source under MIT with development in the open, shipping a commit and a release on the very day of the sweep Where it slips: The paid plan piles up access failures: some subscribers see the paid models erroring while the free ones work, with the report open since 22 July and still unresolved as of today
Kimi CLI 3.5/5 · Free + from $19
The price stays the same, confirmed today on the official page: $19 a month to start. The product gains control across three releases shipped in six days, from 30 July to 5 August: plugins can now ship their own agents and inject system-prompt instructions, four new hook events land for watching execution, and Kimi Computer Use and Kimi WebBridge become official plugins installable straight from the catalogue. The week in the community, though, was bad: a user who imported their Claude Code setup finds it slow, with tasks reported done when they were not, and a documented bug makes the VS Code extension's auto-approve mode silently drop to manual after idle time, with no trace in the log. Open issues keep climbing in both of the project's repositories, 525 in the one being retired and 572 in its successor.
Where it wins: A paid step from $19 a month with a free plan below it, well under what the western terminal agents charge Where it slips: The repo notice no longer talks about a rename: it says the project will be wound down gradually and sends you to another repository, under another licence, to keep using it
Gemini CLI 3.3/5 · Free
Nothing structural has changed: the 18 June 2026 cutoff still stands, with no requests served to the free plan nor to Google AI Pro and Ultra, replaced by Antigravity CLI. The repository is not abandoned, it still ships nightly builds nearly daily and keeps its Apache 2.0 licence. What this sweep adds is that Google's own pages do not even agree with each other: the quota documentation states 250 daily requests for the free API key, while the repository README and the geminicli.com homepage still advertise the 60 requests per minute and 1,000 per day plan that is no longer served to individual accounts, six weeks after the shutdown.
Where it wins: The code stays open under Apache 2.0 and the repository ships nightly builds nearly daily, with no archive or read-only notice Where it slips: The free path for individual developers is gone: since 18 June 2026 it serves no requests for the free plan nor for Google AI Pro and Ultra
Comparison table
| Tool | Price | Free trial | Platforms | Rating | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen Code | From $50 | No | macOS, Windows | VisitQwen Code (opens in a new tab) | |
| OpenCode | Free | No | macOS, Windows | VisitOpenCode (opens in a new tab) | |
| Kimi CLI | Free + from $19 | No | macOS, Windows | VisitKimi CLI (opens in a new tab) | |
| Gemini CLI | Free | No | macOS, Windows | VisitGemini CLI (opens in a new tab) |
Still unsure? Read the full review of Qwen Code?