Dev.to
7/15/2026
Benchmarking China's open-weight AI models: DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, and GLM compared
Original: I Pitted China's Best Open AI Models Against Each Other
Short summary
A hands-on comparison of four Chinese open-weight AI model families — DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, and GLM — tested on coding, reasoning, multilingual, speed, and cost dimensions. DeepSeek V4 Flash emerges as the best budget pick at $0.25/1M tokens with top coding scores. The author replaced all OpenAI/Anthropic calls with these models via Global API's unified endpoint, citing vendor lock-in concerns and significant cost savings.
- •DeepSeek V4 Flash rated best overall at $0.25/1M output tokens with 5-star coding
- •Qwen3-8B cheapest at $0.01/1M tokens; GLM-4-9B also ultra-cheap
- •Kimi positioned as premium-only with strong Chinese language performance
- •All models accessed via Global API's OpenAI-compatible endpoint
- •Global API product promoted throughout the article
Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.
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