# Alibaba Cloud vs OpenScale

> Alibaba Cloud serves the Qwen family inside a full public cloud. OpenScale sells one open model, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, at very low prices.

Canonical: https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/alibaba-cloud-vs-openscale · By The Subconscious Team · Updated October 11, 2026

## How they compare

Alibaba's Model Studio serves Qwen 3.8-Max with text, image and video input and a 1M context at $2 in and $6 out per million tokens internationally, plus open Qwen models, batch at half price and EU deployment options. OpenScale serves DeepSeek V4.1 Flash with a 1M context at $0.06 in, $0.003 cached and $0.24 out under a 50% promotion, at 200+ tokens per second.

Alibaba fits multilingual and Asia-market products and enterprises that want models inside a hyperscale cloud. OpenScale fits teams that want cheap tokens for coding agents with a simple prepaid bill, though it has one model, one Singapore datacenter and no published SLA.

## What each one does

### Alibaba Cloud

Alibaba Cloud serves the Qwen model family through Model Studio, its managed AI platform. The flagship Qwen 3.8-Max takes text, image and video input with a 1M token context, function calling, structured outputs and built-in web search. International pricing is $2 in and $6 out per million tokens, with implicit cache hits at $0.25. Deployments in China and some global regions list lower, at $1.65 in and about $4.95 out, and Alibaba often runs limited-time discounts, including night-time cuts of up to 80% on Qwen 3.7-Max.

### OpenScale

OpenScale is a Y Combinator-backed inference API built by LatentSpace and run out of Singapore. It sells open models behind one endpoint that speaks Chat Completions, the OpenAI Responses API and Anthropic Messages, so Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, Cline, GitHub Copilot, Zed and other coding agents can point at it with a base URL and key. Its public catalog today is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash in two versions, standard and fast, both with a 1M token context window and up to 384K output tokens.

## Which is best, and when

### Choose Alibaba Cloud for

- Multimodal Qwen 3.8-Max
- Multilingual and Asia-market products
- A full cloud with regional deployment

### Choose OpenScale for

- Much lower per-token prices
- Coding agent backends
- A simple prepaid bill

## At a glance

| Attribute | Alibaba Cloud | OpenScale |
|---|---|---|
| Model access | Open weights incl. Max (custom license) | Open weights |
| Flagship models | Qwen 3.8-Max, Qwen 3.7-Max | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash |
| Speed | ~40 tok/s on Qwen 3.8-Max | 200+ tok/s; fast tier ~2x |
| Price | $2 in, $6 out international | $0.06 in, $0.24 out (promo, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash) |
| Customization | No fine-tuning on hosted Max | N/A |
| Deployment | Model Studio on Alibaba Cloud | Serverless API |
| Long context | 1M (Qwen 3.8-Max) | 1M context |

## FAQ

### What is the difference between Alibaba Cloud and OpenScale?

Alibaba Cloud serves the Qwen family inside a full public cloud. OpenScale sells one open model, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, at very low prices.

### When should I choose Alibaba Cloud over OpenScale?

Multimodal Qwen 3.8-Max; Multilingual and Asia-market products; A full cloud with regional deployment.

### When should I choose OpenScale over Alibaba Cloud?

Much lower per-token prices; Coding agent backends; A simple prepaid bill.

### Is Alibaba Cloud or OpenScale cheaper?

Alibaba Cloud: $2 in, $6 out international. OpenScale: $0.06 in, $0.24 out (promo, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash). The cheaper choice depends on the model and workload.

### Which has more context, Alibaba Cloud or OpenScale?

Alibaba Cloud: 1M (Qwen 3.8-Max). OpenScale: 1M context.

## Running long-horizon agents?

If your agents run past 200K tokens, compare both against Subconscious: [Subconscious vs Alibaba Cloud](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-alibaba-cloud.md), [Subconscious vs OpenScale](https://www.subconscious.dev/compare/subconscious-vs-openscale.md).

Full profiles: [Alibaba Cloud](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/alibaba-cloud.md), [OpenScale](https://www.subconscious.dev/providers/openscale.md).