Alibaba began charging for its Qwen assistant on the evening of 10 August, introducing three paid Office Assistant tiers in the app. Basic access stays free.
The tiers
Premium is RMB19 a month or RMB200 a year (about $28); Elite is RMB49 or RMB568 (about $79); Flagship is RMB128 or RMB1,499 (about $209). Quota multipliers run 2x, 5x and 20x. All three include the latest Qwen flagship model, local and cloud operating modes, mobile remote control, custom skills and file delivery — web pages, apps, PPT, Word, Excel and images.
Video is a separate meter
The genuinely new design choice is unbundling. Video generation is not covered by any tier: it is sold in credits, promotionally at RMB26 for 10 up to RMB968 for 500, and at standard rates from RMB45 to RMB2,250. Users get 10 free video generations a day.
End of the free-for-all
Chinese assistants have spent a year buying users at zero price. Alibaba is the first of the majors to put a subscription in front of a mass-market app, and the tier ladder — quotas rather than features — is the template rivals including Doubao will be judged against.
Watch the conversion, not the headline price
Coverage rendering this as "a $30-a-year subscription" is quoting the entry tier; the flagship is seven times that. Alibaba disclosed no subscriber target and no conversion figures, so the only measurable thing so far is the price card.
Quotas, not features
Note what is not tiered: all three plans carry the same flagship model and the same capabilities. Alibaba is selling usage rather than access, which is the pricing shape you adopt when inference cost dominates and when you would rather not tell most of your users they are on the weaker system.