Is Alibaba better than Recursive?
It depends on the job: both list 1 models, Recursive the longest context (262K tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Alibaba vs Recursive
Alibaba lists 1 models and Recursive 1. Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
At a glance
| Alibaba | Recursive | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 1 | 1 |
| Models with published pricing | 1 | 1 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $0.18 | n/a |
| Cheapest paid model | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | n/a |
| Longest context | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B (131K) | Recursive: Flint (free) (262K) |
| Free models | 0 | 1 |
| Newest model | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B (2025-09-18) | Recursive: Flint (free) (2026-10-21) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 0 |
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What each costs for real workloads
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 | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $15.75 with Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B | no suitable model |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $15.30 with Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B | no suitable model |
| 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 | no suitable model |
| 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 |
Cheapest model for each capability
| You need | Alibaba | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | none listed |
| With tool calling | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | none listed |
| With image input | none listed | none listed |
| With reasoning mode | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | none listed |
| 128K+ context | Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B ($0.18) | none listed |
| 1M+ context | none listed | none listed |
Line-up by type and price tier
| Model type | Alibaba | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| text->text | 1 | 1 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Alibaba | Recursive |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 1 |
| Under $0.50 | 1 | 0 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 0 | 0 |
| $3 – $10 | 0 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Frequently asked questions
Which has more models, Alibaba or Recursive?
Neither — both list 1 models.
Which provider has the longest context window?
Recursive: Alibaba's longest is Tongyi DeepResearch 30B A3B at 131K tokens; Recursive's is Recursive: Flint (free) at 262K.
Do Alibaba or Recursive offer free models?
Alibaba: none. Recursive: 1 free model (e.g. Recursive: Flint (free)).
Which provider has models that can read images?
Alibaba: 0 of 1 models accept images. Recursive: 0 of 1.