Yunque LLM vs. Tongyi Qianwen: The Under

Yunque LLM vs. Tongyi Qianwen: The Underlying Logic Behind Douyin Doubao's Leading Market Share

 

In China's large language model (LLM) sector, both Douyin Doubao's Yunque LLM and Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen rank among the first-tier players. However, their development paths and market performance show distinct differences. According to public data, Doubao not only records a daily token usage exceeding 16.4 trillion but also serves 90% of the world's top 10 mobile phone manufacturers, with over 5,000 enterprise clients. Its market share far surpasses that of Tongyi Qianwen. This gap is no accident; it stems from core differences in their technical positioning, scenario adaptation, and market strategies, and also reflects the key decisive factors in the current LLM competition.

 

From the perspective of underlying technical and ecological logic, Yunque LLM and Tongyi Qianwen have taken two completely different paths. Relying on Alibaba's end-to-end layout of "cloud + AI chips + business scenarios," Tongyi Qianwen's core advantages lie in strong comprehensive capabilities and a robust open-source ecosystem. It excels in multimodal interaction (integration of text, images, and voice) and multilingual support, and has attracted global developers through its open-source strategy, forming vertical scenario solutions centered on e-commerce operations and supply chain management. For example, Taobao merchants can quickly generate product copy and optimize Zhitongche advertising strategies via Tongyi Qianwen, while DingTalk users can leverage it to automatically organize meeting minutes. This deep integration with Alibaba's existing businesses has enabled it to gain a foothold in serving government-enterprise clients and global enterprises.

 

In contrast, Douyin Doubao's Yunque LLM focuses more on high efficiency, practicality, and scenario implementation. On one hand, it has achieved millisecond-level inference speed, allowing rapid responses to fast-paced needs such as short video script optimization and live broadcast script design. For instance, when a live streamer inputs "3-minute makeup live stream process," Yunque can generate a complete script including product introductions and interactive lines within 10 seconds. On the other hand, its enterprise-level agent platform is highly sophisticated, enabling direct integration with scenarios like intelligent terminals and content creation tools. For example, it has collaborated with mobile phone manufacturers to develop "voice assistant + AI creation" functions, allowing users to generate Moments graphics and short video subtitles with one click on their phones. More importantly, Yunque LLM has a highly competitive pricing strategy – the price of its flagship model, Pro-32k, is 99% lower than the industry average. This "affordable" cost has met the complex business needs of small and medium-sized merchants and developers, becoming a key driver for its market penetration.

 

Differences in scenario adaptation have further widened the market gap between the two. Tongyi Qianwen's scenario advantages are concentrated in Alibaba's core business sectors, such as e-commerce, logistics, and enterprise office. While it can accurately serve clients in specific industries, the "breadth" of its scenario coverage is relatively limited. In contrast, Yunque LLM has seized the most high-frequency "internet-style" needs of the moment, expanding its reach into diverse fields including content creation, daily office work, and intelligent terminals. Whether it is self-media creators using it to generate short video storyboards, office workers leveraging it to create PPTs with one click, or mobile phone users utilizing it for voice-to-text conversion and formatting optimization, Yunque can provide "plug-and-play" solutions. This "full-scenario coverage" feature allows it to serve not only enterprise clients but also penetrate into the daily usage of C-end users, forming a positive cycle of "C-end user acquisition and B-end conversion."

 

What is more noteworthy is that the difference in their market strategies directly determines user perception and conversion efficiency. Doubao has adopted a strategy of "scenario visualization + precise marketing": 90% of its promotional materials demonstrate specific usage scenarios, such as "generating live commerce scripts in 10 seconds" and "completing monthly work summaries in 5 steps," allowing users to intuitively see the practical value of the LLM. At the same time, through progressive marketing – first attracting users with "10 free trials" and then promoting conversion with "50% off for the first month of the enterprise version" – its single-material conversion rate far exceeds the industry average. In contrast, Tongyi Qianwen's promotion relies more on traffic within Alibaba's ecosystem, such as embedding entry points in Taobao and DingTalk. Although this allows it to reach precise users, it lacks "proactive appeal" to external users, resulting in relatively low user awareness and usage frequency.

 

From an industry perspective, the essence of Doubao's leading market share is its grasp of the core of current LLM competition – it is not a "competition of technical parameters" but a "realization of user value". There is no doubt about Tongyi Qianwen's technical strength and ecological foundation, but it is more inclined to "serve Alibaba's existing businesses." In contrast, Yunque LLM has broken through with "low price, fast response, and full-scenario coverage," addressing the pain points of small and medium-sized clients who "cannot afford or use LLMs well," while also meeting the "simplicity and efficiency" needs of C-end users. This positioning, which "starts from user needs," has enabled it to accumulate a large user base and enterprise clients in a short period of time, and also provided an important insight for the industry: the ultimate competitiveness of LLMs will eventually return to "whether they can truly solve user problems."

 

In the future, as LLM technology matures, Tongyi Qianwen may further strengthen its efforts in the open-source ecosystem and in-depth penetration of vertical industries, while Doubao is likely to continue expanding its scenario coverage and price advantages. The competition between the two may shift from "market share competition" to "in-depth cultivation in segmented fields." Nevertheless, this contest has already proven that in the LLM track, technology is the foundation, but "making LLMs accessible, user-friendly, and affordable for users" is the real key to success.