Archive · 15 Aug 2026
Alibaba Qwen Models Hit 3 Billion Downloads, Passing Meta, Google
Alibaba is a big technology company from China.
It makes artificial intelligence (AI) computer programs that can learn and solve problems.
Alibaba lets anyone download and change its AI models, which are called Qwen.
In the last six months, people have downloaded Qwen more than three billion times!
That is more downloads than models from big American companies like Google and Meta.
When developers download Qwen, they use it to build their own apps and computer programs.
This has created more than three hundred thousand new versions of Qwen made by other developers.
Alibaba also shares Qwen with companies in Southeast Asia and Africa through its cloud service.
Because Qwen is free and easy to change, many developers around the world choose it.
Other companies are now working on their own open AI models to compete.
Alibaba's Qwen AI model family has surpassed 3 billion global downloads over the past six months, becoming the world's most downloaded open AI model ecosystem.
Alibaba has open-sourced more than 460 Qwen models, and its ecosystem has spawned more than 300,000 derivative models.
According to Hugging Face's Aug. 14 report, Alphabet/Google recorded about 418 million downloads and Meta had 227 million in 2026.
Qwen competes with Chinese rivals DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and MiniMax, as well as US closed models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
Alibaba distributes Qwen through its cloud platform to enterprise customers in Southeast Asia and Africa, while Meta and Nvidia have released new open models in response.
- Who
- Alibaba Group Holding, the Chinese technology company behind the Qwen AI model family; competitors include Meta, Alphabet/Google, DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, and US firms OpenAI and Anthropic.
- What
- Qwen, Alibaba's family of open AI models, surpassed 3 billion global downloads in the past six months, making it the world's most downloaded open AI model ecosystem.
- When
- Over the six months leading up to Hugging Face's state of open models report published on Aug. 14.
- Where
- Global; Alibaba is based in Hangzhou, China, and distributes Qwen to enterprise customers including in Southeast Asia and Africa.
- Why
- Open models can be freely downloaded, customized, and used as building blocks for new AI products, and Qwen's relatively low cost and easy adaptability have made it a popular choice in the US-China AI race.
- Total Qwen downloads
- More than 3 billion in the past six months
- Open-source models released
- More than 460
- Derivative models spawned
- More than 300,000
- Google/Alphabet downloads (2026)
- About 418 million
- Meta downloads (2026)
- About 227 million
- Report source
- Hugging Face state of open models report, published Aug. 14
- Alibaba headquarters
- Hangzhou, China
- Markets for enterprise distribution
- Southeast Asia and Africa
