Alibaba cuts Qwen AI model costs on Qoder coding platform to capture US workday demand
The aggressive price cut comes amid intense rivalry between US and Chinese artificial intelligence firms
Alibaba Group Holding has slashed prices for its flagship Qwen AI models by up to 80 per cent on its Qoder agentic coding platform, offering an aggressive discount to hook global developers to compete with US and Chinese rivals like Anthropic and Zhipu AI.
While the promotion is branded as an “off-peak” discount, the timing – 10am to 8pm US Eastern Time – appears to be a calculated move to capture American users.
“If you’re in the Americas, here’s the twist: off-peak covers most of your workday,” Alibaba said in a post on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
In China, the discount applies to the platform’s Qoderwork tool, which supports AI models including Qwen.
To capitalise on the discount, the company suggested Chinese users schedule tasks during the day, or queue commands before bed, allowing Qoder’s autonomous agents to execute code overnight.
The promotion follows a separate half-price discount for Qwen3.7-Max that concluded earlier this week.