Core Conclusion
The user landscape of China’s AI applications has formed a clear three-tier structure:
| Rank | Product | Users | Company | Core Strategy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doubao | 345M | ByteDance | Traffic entry + free strategy |
| 2 | Tongyi Qianwen | 166M | Alibaba | Ecosystem integration + B2B empowerment |
| 3 | DeepSeek | 127M | DeepSeek | Technical reputation + cost-effectiveness |
| 4 | ERNIE Bot | 5M-13M (standalone app) | Baidu | Search integration dominant (200M+ embedded) |
| 5 | Tencent Yuanbao | 40M+ | Tencent | WeChat ecosystem referral |
Doubao’s 345M users is not a product superiority victory — it’s a traffic distribution capability crush. ByteDance owns super-apps like Douyin and Toutiao, combined with a long-term free strategy that turned AI apps into infrastructure.
But the real competition is not about user count — it’s about engagement and monetization capability. The routes of Tongyi Qianwen and DeepSeek deserve more attention.
Three Routes Deconstructed
Route 1: ByteDance Doubao — Traffic is the Moat
Doubao’s strategy is simple and brutal: free + omni-channel entry + rapid iteration.
- Embedded across Douyin, Toutiao, Xigua Video
- Multi-modal coverage: voice, image, video
- Model capability only needs to be “good enough” — the core is lowering the usage threshold
The cost of this strategy is thin margins — among 345M users, the percentage willing to pay is extremely low. But ByteDance is betting on: capture users first, find monetization later.
Route 2: Alibaba Tongyi — Ecosystem Lock-in
Tongyi Qianwen has 166M users, only half of Doubao, but with a clearer monetization path:
- Alibaba Cloud integration: Qwen models directly embedded in cloud services, B2B customers are naturally reached
- Open-source strategy: Qwen series continuously open-sourced, developer ecosystem feeds back into commercial version
- DingTalk collaboration: AI assistant in office scenarios, high conversion rate to paid
Alibaba’s approach is not “get the most users” but “lock in the most valuable users.” Among 166M, there may be a higher proportion of paying users.
Route 3: DeepSeek — Technical Reputation Breakthrough
DeepSeek has 127M users, started as a standalone app without ByteDance or Alibaba’s ecosystem backing. What’s their edge?
- Cost-effectiveness: API pricing at just 1/20 of Claude, 1/10 of GPT
- Technical reputation: NIST/CAISI evaluation identified as “strongest Chinese AI model,” performance comparable to GPT-5 from 8 months ago
- Open-source community: V3.2/V4 series continuously open-sourced, organic spread by developers
DeepSeek is on a “technical brand” route — users don’t use it because of convenient entry points, but because it truly works well and is cheap.
Where Kimi Stands
Moonshot AI’s Kimi is not listed separately in the standalone app user rankings, but its positioning is unique:
- Pre-IPO valuation surged from $10B to $18B
- Kimi K2.6 open-sourced with coding benchmarks surpassing Claude and GPT-5.5
- Engineering capability: 13 hours continuous coding, 300 sub-agents running 4000 steps in parallel
Kimi is targeting the developer and technical user segment — a high-value group, not the mass market.
Landscape Assessment
| Dimension | Doubao | Tongyi | DeepSeek | Kimi |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| User Scale | ★★★★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★ | ★★ |
| Technical Reputation | ★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★★ |
| Monetization | ★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★ | ★★★ |
| Developer Ecosystem | ★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★★ | ★★★★ |
| International Influence | ★ | ★★★★ | ★★★★★ | ★★★ |
The key question in 2026 is not “who has the most users” but “whose technology is the strongest.”
Doubao is untouchable in user count in the short term, but if model capability lags long-term, users will churn. Tongyi and DeepSeek’s catch-up at the technical level is the real long-term competitiveness.
Action Recommendations
- Individual users: Doubao is free and sufficient — no need to overthink
- Developers: DeepSeek offers the best cost-effectiveness, Tongyi has the most complete open-source ecosystem — choose based on your tech stack
- Enterprise decision-makers: Tongyi has the most mature B2B integration, DeepSeek offers optimal cost, Doubao provides widest C-end reach
- Investors: Watch Kimi’s IPO progress and DeepSeek’s funding pace — tech companies’ valuation premiums are materializing