OpenRouter vs Qwen API: Side-by-Side Pricing
Direct per-model price comparison for Qwen rows that have both an OpenRouter price and an official DashScope or Qwen price.
How to read this comparison
Qwen models from Alibaba ship through OpenRouter and the official DashScope endpoint. International developers usually find OpenRouter easier because of card billing and a unified API surface, while DashScope is often cheaper when you can pay in CNY and accept the regional endpoint.
This page lists every Qwen row in the current snapshot that has both an OpenRouter price and an official DashScope or Qwen price. If the table is empty, official Qwen pricing has not yet been curated for any Qwen variant in this snapshot — coverage will expand in later updates.
Per-model price match
Input and output rates in USD per 1M tokens. "Cheaper" reflects combined input + output.
No Qwen models in the current snapshot have both an OpenRouter row and an official Qwen/DashScope row. Official Qwen pricing is curated manually and coverage will expand in upcoming snapshots. Until then, check the model page for the OpenRouter rate or use the calculator to estimate monthly cost.