Free quota

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Rules

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Validity period

Free quota is typically valid for 30 to 90 days, starting from the date you sign up for Qwen Cloud or your model access is approved. After expiration or depletion, continued model inference will incur charges.

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Scope of application

Free quota only offsets real-time inference costs. It does not offset:

• Batch calls
• Context cache
• Built-in tool call fees (web search, image search, etc.)

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Notes

Free quota is shared across a Qwen Cloud account.

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Get the free quota

Sign up for Qwen Cloud and add a payment method (bank card or PayPal) to activate your free quota.

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View your remaining quota

Go to the Free Tier page to view and manage your free quota across all models. The page provides:

• Eligible models: Number of models with available free quota
• Expiring soon: Models with quota expiring within 7 days
• Low balance: Models with 80% or more of quota consumed
• Unavailable: Models with no remaining quota (data from past 180 days)

Switch between model types (Large Language Model, Visual Model, Multimodal Model, Speech Model, Embedding Model) and view details including:

• Free Quota, Consumed, Utilization, Expiration, Status
• Toggle Free quota only switch to enable auto-stop when quota ends

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Use the free quota

When you make real-time calls to a model, free quota is automatically deducted. For more information, see Get started with Qwen Cloud.

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Free quota only

By default, you are charged after free quota is exhausted. If you enable the Free quota only feature, calls are blocked after quota exhaustion (error code: AllocationQuota.FreeTierOnly) to prevent charges.

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How to enable

Go to the Free Tier page:

• Single model: Toggle on the Free quota only switch for the target model
• Multiple models:
  1. Click the Auto-stop when free quota runs out dropdown at the top-right
  2. Select Enable selected models to enter bulk mode (checkboxes appear in the table)
  3. Check the boxes next to the models you want to enable, then click Enable selected models; or click Enable all models directly without selecting any
  4. Click Exit bulk mode when done

If the switch is not displayed for a model, it means the free quota for that model has been exhausted or has expired, or the model does not offer a free quota.

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How to disable

This feature is disabled by default. If you've enabled it, you can only disable it after free quota is used up.

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FAQ

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Will I be notified when my free quota is used up?

Currently, there is no notification mechanism.

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What happens when my free quota is used up?

If you have not enabled the Free quota only feature, model calls in progress complete without interruption. Tokens exceeding free quota are billed based on input/output costs in Model invocation pricing. Charges are automatically deducted on a pay-as-you-go basis, which may result in overdue payment. Before calling a model, check its free quota and use budget management.

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Why was I charged?

Possible reasons:

• You used a model without free quota. Example: qwen-max and qwen-max-latest have separate free quotas.
• The free quota cannot be used to offset costs from Batch calls.
• Free quota data updates hourly. The display might show remaining quota when it's actually exhausted, resulting in charges. Check status again later for latest data.

You can confirm the charge details on the Pay-as-you-go page.

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How do I avoid charges?

After free quota is exhausted, charges are automatically deducted from your account balance. To manage charge risk:

• Delete API keys: Go to the Qwen Cloud API-Key page and delete created API keys. After you delete an API key, you can no longer call models using the API, which prevents further charges.
• Set spending alert: Configure a spending alert . You'll receive email notifications when monthly spending exceeds the threshold.

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I have a remaining quota, so why did my call fail?

Your account may have an overdue payment. After the grace period expires, all model calls are blocked — even if you have remaining free quota. See Overdue payment protection for details.

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Why can't I see the free quota and its validity period?

If the Free Quota column shows No free quota or the section is not displayed, your free quota for the model has expired.