Alibaba lists 1 models and Moondream 2. Alibaba is cheaper on a typical model ($0.18 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Alibaba | Moondream | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 1 | 2 |
| Models with published pricing | 1 | 2 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.18 | $0.85 |
| Cheapest paid model | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85) |
| Longest context | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B (131K) | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview (32K) |
| Free models | 0 | 0 |
| Newest model | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B (2025-09-18) | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview (2026-10-15) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 0 |
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | Alibaba | Moondream |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $15.75 with Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B | $72.50 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $15.30 with Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B | $61.00 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | $16.20 with Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $9.90 with Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B | $39.00 with Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $4.95 with Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B | no suitable model |
| You need | Alibaba | Moondream |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85) |
| With tool calling | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | none listed |
| With image input | none listed | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85) |
| With reasoning mode | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview ($0.85) |
| 128K+ context | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | none listed |
| 1M+ context | none listed | none listed |
| Model type | Alibaba | Moondream |
|---|---|---|
| text+image->text | 0 | 2 |
| text->text | 1 | 0 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Alibaba | Moondream |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 |
| Under $0.50 | 1 | 0 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 0 | 2 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Alibaba is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.18 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $0.85 for Moondream. The cheapest paid models are Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B at $0.18 and Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview at $0.85.
It depends on the job: Moondream offers the broader line-up (1 models vs 2), Alibaba the lower typical price, Alibaba the longest context (131K tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Moondream: Alibaba lists 1 models and Moondream lists 2.
Alibaba: Alibaba's longest is Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B at 131K tokens; Moondream's is Moondream: Moondream 3 Preview at 32K.
Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.
Alibaba: 0 of 1 models accept images. Moondream: 2 of 2.