During 2024, Qwen (also known as Tongyi Qianwen) began to sound like Alibaba’s big bet in the field of generative artificial intelligence. At that time, interest was above all in its technical potential and its role as an Asian alternative to models such as ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude.
More than a year later, and after the Deepseek surprise, the conversation is different: at the end of 2025, Qwen is no longer just a promise, but a tool that millions of people could use daily, in various environments.
This article is not intended to repeat advertisements or highlight download figures. The objective is more practical: to explain what Qwen can do today, what its app offers for free and why it can be useful (or not) for profiles related to marketing, communication and productivity.
From technological experiment to consumer product
The most relevant change for Qwen in the last year is not a new benchmark or a larger model, but the approach. Alibaba has made it clear that its priority is mass adoption. To achieve this, it has simplified access, opted for a free app and integrated functions that previously required several different tools into a single environment.
This does not mean that Qwen is “better at everything” than other AIs, but rather that it is positioned as a generalist platform, designed to solve real tasks without forcing the user to pay a subscription from the first moment.
Multimodality: less theory, more real use
One of the most repeated terms in AI is “multimodality”, but in many cases it remains anecdotal. In Qwen, during 2025, this capability begins to become truly practical.
The system can work with text, images, audio and, to a lesser extent, video within the same conversation. For the average user this translates into specific situations:
- Upload a long document with graphics and ask for a useful summary.
- Analyze a product image and generate a commercial description.
- Transcribe and summarize a recorded meeting.
- Start from a written idea and turn it into a presentation.
It does not replace specialized tools in each area, but it does reduce friction between tasks and speed up common workflows.
What the Qwen app offers for free (and why it matters)
This is one of the key points and where Qwen clearly differentiates itself from many competitors. As of writing this article, December 2025, the Qwen app offers free functions that on other platforms are usually behind paid plans.
Among the main capabilities available at no cost are:
- Chat and advanced text generation: writing articles, advertising copies, emails, scripts or long texts with coherence.
- Integrated web search: not limited to responding with internal knowledge, but can search for current information and synthesize it. It also has an option to do deep research.
- Document analysis and summary: ideal for reports, long PDFs or research materials.
- Automatic creation of presentations: convert an idea or a base text into structured slides.
- Generation and editing of images with natural language: create images from scratch or modify existing photos describing the change.
- Audio comprehension: transcription and summary of recordings.
What is relevant is not just the list, but there are no strict limits published daily usage nor a mandatory subscription to access these functions. In practice, the user can experiment and work without the constant feeling of “consuming credits.”
Real limitations that should be known
To offer an honest view, we must also talk about what Qwen is not.
- It does not replace professional software: image editing or video generation is useful for quick prototypes and content, but it does not replace a designer or advanced audiovisual production.
- Variable results depending on the prompt: as in any AI, the quality depends a lot on how the request is formulated.
- Functions still uneven depending on region: some integrations and services are more mature in China than in the international version.
Qwen saves time, but does not eliminate the need for professional judgment.
Quick comparison with other popular AIs
The comparison with ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude is inevitable. Qwen does not always stand out for maximum precision in complex tasks, but it does stand out for:
- Free access to advanced features.
- Integration of text, image and search in a single environment.
- Clear orientation to productivity and business.
For many users, this is more relevant than having the most advanced model on the market.
Qwen: a tool for judicious testing
A good summary of all of the above is that Qwen is Alibaba’s proposal to normalize the daily use of artificial intelligence, eliminating economic and technical barriers.
Qwen is especially useful in tasks such as content ideation (generating article proposals or editorial calendars), adaptation of messages (rewriting the same content for different channels or audiences) and rapid visual support (creating base images or modifying them).
It can also be used to get a first read on trends or market information before delving deeper. In these scenarios, Qwen does not act as a substitute for the professional, but as an assistant that reduces mechanical and repetitive work.
If in 2024 we analyzed Qwen as a promise, today the interest is in real use. And that is where this AI finally begins to make sense.
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