Claude Code and Qwen Code, fact by fact
| Fact | Claude Code | Qwen Code |
|---|---|---|
| StarsClaude Code has 121,488 more stars (5.3×). | 149,849Verified 8 Oct 2026 | 28,361Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Newest commitBoth committed on the same day. | 8 Oct 20260 days old when we read itVerified 8 Oct 2026 | 8 Oct 20260 days old when we read itVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| ContributorsQwen Code has 363 more contributors (7.4×). | 57Verified 8 Oct 2026 | 420Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| License | not tracked for Claude Code | Apache-2.0Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Latest stable releaseBoth released on the same day. | v2.1.294published 8 Oct 2026Verified 8 Oct 2026 | sdk-typescript-v0.1.18published 5 Oct 2026Verified 8 Oct 2026 |
| npm downloadsClaude Code has 14,681,464 more npm downloads a week (141×). | 14,786,283 a week@anthropic-ai/claude-codeVerified 8 Oct 2026 | 104,819 a week@qwen-code/qwen-codeVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Homebrew installs | not tracked for Claude Code | 2,783 in 30 daysqwen-codeVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
| Repository | anthropics/claude-codeTypeScriptVerified 8 Oct 2026 | QwenLM/qwen-codeTypeScriptVerified 8 Oct 2026 |
What we know about Claude Code
Claude Code runs only Anthropic models: every alias — default, best, fable, sonnet, opus, haiku and opusplan — resolves to a Claude model, and changing the base URL moves where the request goes without changing which model answers it.
“ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL changes where requests are sent, not which model answers them.”
Plan a change with Opus and execute it with Sonnet inside one session, by setting the model to `opusplan`.
“Special mode that uses opus during plan mode, then switches to sonnet for execution”
Run the agent on infrastructure your employer already approved: the model setting accepts an Amazon Bedrock inference profile ARN, a Microsoft Foundry deployment name, or a Google Cloud Agent Platform version name.
“Amazon Bedrock: an inference profile ARN”
Work one long task without losing history: `sonnet[1m]` gives a 1 million token context window, and auto-compaction runs below it.
“Uses Sonnet with a 1 million token context window for long sessions”
You cannot audit, fork or patch the agent: the repository publishes the changelog, plugins and examples, not the CLI source, under an all-rights-reserved licence. GitHub Copilot CLI is the only other tool in this set that does the same.
“© Anthropic PBC. All rights reserved. Use is subject to Anthropic's [Commercial Terms of Service](https://www.anthropic.com/legal/commercial-terms).”
Subscribers report the plan limit arriving far earlier than the plan implies: the repository's most-commented open issue carries 1,487 comments and 724 reactions and has stayed open since 2026-01-03.
“[BUG] Instantly hitting usage limits with Max subscription”
On API-key billing the cost is per token, and Anthropic's own enterprise figure is $150-250 per developer per month.
“Across enterprise deployments, the average cost is around $13 per developer per active day and $150-250 per developer per month, with costs remaining below $30 per active day for 90% of users.”
A developer who must run a local or self-hosted model should choose goose or Crush; both accept an Ollama endpoint.
“Local model runner supporting Qwen, Llama, DeepSeek, and other open-source models.”
What Claude Code costs
Claude Pro costs $17 per month on the annual plan, $200 billed up front, or $20 per month billed monthly; Max starts at $100 per month.
“Per month with annual subscription discount ($200 billed up front). $20 if billed monthly.”
Pro and Max subscribers do not pay per token for Claude Code; the usage sits inside the subscription.
“Claude Max and Pro subscribers have usage included in their subscription, so the session cost figure isn’t relevant for billing purposes.”
What we know about Qwen Code
Qwen Code binds the local agent to Telegram, DingTalk, WeChat or Feishu with one command, `qwen channel`, and ships TypeScript, Python and Java SDKs beside the CLI.
“- **Beyond the terminal** — IDE plugins, Desktop app, daemon mode, SDKs, and IM bots (Telegram / DingTalk / WeChat / Feishu).”
Run the agent from a group chat your team already uses, with `qwen channel`.
“| **IM Bot** | `qwen channel` | Connect to Telegram, DingTalk, WeChat, or Feishu |”
Embed the agent in your own program through the TypeScript, Python or Java SDK instead of shelling out to a CLI.
“| **SDK** | — | [TypeScript](./packages/sdk-typescript/README.md), [Python](./packages/sdk-python/README.md), [Java](./packages/sdk-java/qwencode/README.md) |”
Batch a repository-wide edit in CI with `qwen -p "..."`, which runs without the terminal UI.
“| **Headless** | `qwen -p "..."` | Scripts, CI/CD, batch processing — no UI |”
Qwen Code is no longer free: the Qwen OAuth free tier was discontinued on 2026-04-15, and requests on an old token are now rejected.
“The Qwen OAuth free tier was discontinued on 2026-04-15. Existing cached tokens may continue working briefly, but new requests will be rejected.”
You cannot finish sign-in on a server: OAuth needs a browser, which CI, SSH and container sessions do not have.
“In non-interactive or headless environments (e.g., CI, SSH, containers), you typically cannot complete the OAuth browser login flow.”
Image input regressed in the shipping line: a crash on image load since 0.21.2 is open, and the current release is v0.21.14.
“[Regression] Qwen code crashes on image load since 0.21.2”
A developer who chose Qwen Code because it was free should now price the Alibaba ModelStudio Coding Plan, or move to goose, which runs a local Ollama model at no per-token cost.
“Cost & quota : the free tier has been discontinued as of 2026-04-15.”
What Qwen Code costs
The free tier is gone as of 2026-04-15; the vendor's recommended replacement is the Alibaba ModelStudio Coding Plan, whose weekly quota is priced on Alibaba's own page, which I did not read today.
“Alibaba ModelStudio : official recommended setup. Opens a sub-menu with Coding Plan (for individual developers · weekly quota included), Token Plan (for teams and companies · usage-based billing with a dedicated endpoint), or Standard API Key (connect with an existing ModelStudio API key).”
Questions people ask
- Are Claude Code and Qwen Code still maintained?
- Claude Code committed to anthropics/claude-code (main) on 8 Oct 2026. Qwen Code committed to QwenLM/qwen-code (main) on 8 Oct 2026. Both readings come from the default branch of each repository, on the date shown beside them.
- What do Claude Code and Qwen Code cost?
- Claude Code: Claude Pro costs $17 per month on the annual plan, $200 billed up front, or $20 per month billed monthly; Max starts at $100 per month. Pro and Max subscribers do not pay per token for Claude Code; the usage sits inside the subscription. Qwen Code: The free tier is gone as of 2026-04-15; the vendor's recommended replacement is the Alibaba ModelStudio Coding Plan, whose weekly quota is priced on Alibaba's own page, which I did not read today. Every figure here is quoted from the vendor's own page and linked beside the claim.
- Is Claude Code or Qwen Code open source?
- We have not read a licence for Claude Code. Qwen Code's repository QwenLM/qwen-code reports the Apache-2.0 licence. We read the licence GitHub reports for the repository, which is not the same question as whether the hosted product is free.
How we check this page
- Machine facts. Stars, contributors, the newest commit on the default branch, the licence GitHub reports and the latest stable release come from the GitHub API, and download counts from npm, PyPI, Homebrew and the VS Code Marketplace. Each value carries the day it was last confirmed, never the day this page was built. The line under each label is arithmetic on those two values.
- Judgments. Every claim about what a tool suits, what it is bad at and what it costs is quoted from a page we read, and that page is linked beside the claim. Where there is no link, we wrote no claim.
- Index status. Both Claude Code and Qwen Code carry claims we read, quoted and linked. So this page is offered to search engines.
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