A sensible choice for developers running a coding agent locally, with only 3 billion active parameters and free weights.

Kenning's take

What it does

Qwen3-Coder-Next is an open-weight coding model built for agents and local development, released in early 2026. It has 80 billion parameters with only 3 billion active, a 256K context window and a hybrid attention design. Qwen says it works with tools such as Claude Code, Qwen Code, Qoder, Cline and Trae.

  • 80B total, 3B active parameters
  • 262,144-token native context
  • Hybrid Gated DeltaNet and attention layout
  • Non-thinking mode only
  • Apache 2.0 open weights, FP8 and GGUF versions

Who it suits. Developers running coding agents locally or cheaply.

Key facts

Category
AI models
Part of
Qwen
Made by
Alibaba (Qwen team)
Based in
China
Released
30 January 2026
How to get it
Free download from Hugging Face
Works on
self-hosted, Hugging Face
In the UK
Yes
Free plan
Yes, open weights

FAQ

Is Qwen3-Coder-Next free?

Yes. The weights are open under Apache 2.0.

How many parameters does Qwen3-Coder-Next have?

80 billion in total, with 3 billion active.

Which tools work with Qwen3-Coder-Next?

Qwen lists Claude Code, Qwen Code, Qoder, Kilo, Trae and Cline.

Facts from the maker's own pages and the sources listed. Checked 2026-10-11.