DeepSeek vs Qwen vs Kimi vs GLM: Which One Should You Use?
DeepSeek vs Qwen vs Kimi vs GLM: Which One Should You Use? Hey there! Let me be honest with you — a few months ago, I was stuck in a rut. Every AI project I started ended up defaulting to the same handful of Western models I'd been using since 2023. Then a friend told me to look at what Chinese AI labs have been building, and honestly? My eyes were opened. Let me show you what I've found. In this…
DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi and GLM are four AI model families that have changed the way a reporter approaches API costs and capabilities. The reporter tested these models through Global API's unified endpoint, which provides OpenAI-compatible access to all of them without needing separate accounts or juggling different services.
DeepSeek's V4 Flash model is the cheapest option at $0.25 per million output tokens, making it the reporter's default choice and representing a 60% drop in their monthly bill compared to GPT-4o. The model excels at coding, content, chat, and general tasks, with a high price-to-quality ratio. However, it lacks vision support and has limited quality in Chinese language processing.
Qwen, from Alibaba, offers the most complete model family among the four. With models ranging from $0.01/M to $3.20/M, there's a Qwen model for every budget. The VL series handles image tasks well, and the Omni-modal support allows feeding audio, video, and images in one shot. Qwen's enterprise-grade infrastructure and frequent new version releases are also notable features. However, the naming can be confusing, making it take a minute to figure out what each model does.
Kimi is a Chinese language model that offers good quality in Chinese language processing, but it doesn't surpass GLM in this regard. The model is priced at $3.00–$3.50/M, making it the most expensive option among the four.
GLM, from Zhipu AI, is the cheapest option at $0.01–$1.92/M, making it the reporter's budget pick. The model performs well in code generation tasks and has a context window of up to 128K tokens. However, like DeepSeek, it lacks vision support and has limited quality in Chinese language processing.
In summary, the choice between these four model families depends on the specific use case and budget. DeepSeek offers the best value for general tasks, while Qwen provides the most comprehensive range of models for various purposes. Kimi excels in Chinese language processing, and GLM is the most budget-friendly option.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
