China's Top AI Application Doubao Launches Paid Version as Costs Soar
ByteDance's AI application 'Doubao,' which holds the top position in China's AI market, has launched a paid version. The professional version costs up to 5088 RMB (approximately 23,500 TWD) annually, drawing mixed reactions from users. This move is analyzed as an inevitable trend for large language models to generate revenue due to soaring AI computing power costs.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: May 5, 2026 at 20:11
- 🔍 Collected: May 5, 2026 at 20:31 (20 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: May 6, 2026 at 04:20 (7h 48m after Collected)
Central News Agency, Taipei, 5th
(Central News Agency, Taipei, 5th) ByteDance's free AI agent "Doubao," launched two years ago, now firmly holds the number one position in China's AI applications. Doubao seized the opportunity yesterday to launch a paid version, among which the most expensive professional version costs 5088 RMB (approximately 23,500 New Taiwan Dollars) per year, triggering complaints from Chinese users. Analysts say that AI computing power is expensive, and charging for large models to replenish funds is unavoidable.
According to reports from Phoenix.com Finance and Red Star News, Doubao (Doubao) was released on May 15, 2024. After operating for nearly two years for free, it quietly updated its paid subscription service statement on the Apple App Store page yesterday. "Doubao Paid" quickly topped the Weibo hot search list, attracting attention and heated discussion.
The statement shows that Doubao will launch three paid versions: Standard continuous monthly subscription 68 RMB/month (continuous annual subscription 688 RMB/year), Enhanced continuous monthly subscription 200 RMB/month (continuous annual subscription 2048 RMB/year), and Professional continuous monthly subscription 500 RMB/month (continuous annual subscription 5088 RMB/year).
In response, Doubao officially stated that Doubao has always provided free services. On the basis of free services, Doubao is also exploring the launch of more value-added services to meet the differentiated needs of different users. The details of the relevant plans are still in the testing phase and will be announced with complete information through official channels when officially launched.
The report quoted sources close to Doubao as revealing that the paid features will mainly focus on complex tasks and productivity scenarios, such as PPT generation, data analysis, film and television production, etc. As the model's capabilities continue to upgrade, the product has been able to meet more and more complex high-value tasks. However, such tasks consume more computing power and inference time, so Doubao plans to launch paid services to meet the needs of these complex scenarios. The free version will continue to serve users' daily use.
Regarding Doubao's impending charges, and the fact that its prices are the highest among Chinese AI applications, Chinese netizens' comments instantly exploded. Many complained that Doubao's move from a free meal to a large bill was "showing its true colors" and threatened to uninstall if charged. However, many also mentioned that foreign AI products have long implemented tiered services, and Doubao is just gradually aligning with international practices.
The report states that the operation of large models requires massive computing power and inference time, which is inherently an extremely money-burning game. Entering 2026, global AI computing power demand has shown exponential growth, and cost pressures are rapidly propagating across the entire industry chain.
From the hardware side, the skyrocketing prices of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and high-end AI chips have directly driven up the cost of underlying infrastructure; from the demand side, with the explosion of AI applications, inference demand is rapidly surpassing training demand, leading to a "tight supply and demand" situation for computing power resources.
Prior to this, Chinese cloud vendors such as Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud have successively raised AI service prices.
The report concludes that when the chain-wide increase in computing power costs becomes an irreversible trend, the transition of large models from "free land grabbing" to "paid blood creation" becomes an unavoidable survival question.
Data from QuestMobile, a Chinese mobile internet business intelligence service platform, shows that as of March, Doubao's monthly active users reached 345 million, firmly ranking first among Chinese AI-native apps, far exceeding the sum of the second-ranked Qianwen (166 million) and third-ranked DeepSeek (127 million). (Editors: Yang Sheng-ru / Qiu Guo-qiang) 1150505
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(Central News Agency, Taipei, 5th) ByteDance's free AI agent "Doubao," launched two years ago, now firmly holds the number one position in China's AI applications. Doubao seized the opportunity yesterday to launch a paid version, among which the most expensive professional version costs 5088 RMB (approximately 23,500 New Taiwan Dollars) per year, triggering complaints from Chinese users. Analysts say that AI computing power is expensive, and charging for large models to replenish funds is unavoidable.
According to reports from Phoenix.com Finance and Red Star News, Doubao (Doubao) was released on May 15, 2024. After operating for nearly two years for free, it quietly updated its paid subscription service statement on the Apple App Store page yesterday. "Doubao Paid" quickly topped the Weibo hot search list, attracting attention and heated discussion.
The statement shows that Doubao will launch three paid versions: Standard continuous monthly subscription 68 RMB/month (continuous annual subscription 688 RMB/year), Enhanced continuous monthly subscription 200 RMB/month (continuous annual subscription 2048 RMB/year), and Professional continuous monthly subscription 500 RMB/month (continuous annual subscription 5088 RMB/year).
In response, Doubao officially stated that Doubao has always provided free services. On the basis of free services, Doubao is also exploring the launch of more value-added services to meet the differentiated needs of different users. The details of the relevant plans are still in the testing phase and will be announced with complete information through official channels when officially launched.
The report quoted sources close to Doubao as revealing that the paid features will mainly focus on complex tasks and productivity scenarios, such as PPT generation, data analysis, film and television production, etc. As the model's capabilities continue to upgrade, the product has been able to meet more and more complex high-value tasks. However, such tasks consume more computing power and inference time, so Doubao plans to launch paid services to meet the needs of these complex scenarios. The free version will continue to serve users' daily use.
Regarding Doubao's impending charges, and the fact that its prices are the highest among Chinese AI applications, Chinese netizens' comments instantly exploded. Many complained that Doubao's move from a free meal to a large bill was "showing its true colors" and threatened to uninstall if charged. However, many also mentioned that foreign AI products have long implemented tiered services, and Doubao is just gradually aligning with international practices.
The report states that the operation of large models requires massive computing power and inference time, which is inherently an extremely money-burning game. Entering 2026, global AI computing power demand has shown exponential growth, and cost pressures are rapidly propagating across the entire industry chain.
From the hardware side, the skyrocketing prices of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) and high-end AI chips have directly driven up the cost of underlying infrastructure; from the demand side, with the explosion of AI applications, inference demand is rapidly surpassing training demand, leading to a "tight supply and demand" situation for computing power resources.
Prior to this, Chinese cloud vendors such as Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud have successively raised AI service prices.
The report concludes that when the chain-wide increase in computing power costs becomes an irreversible trend, the transition of large models from "free land grabbing" to "paid blood creation" becomes an unavoidable survival question.
Data from QuestMobile, a Chinese mobile internet business intelligence service platform, shows that as of March, Doubao's monthly active users reached 345 million, firmly ranking first among Chinese AI-native apps, far exceeding the sum of the second-ranked Qianwen (166 million) and third-ranked DeepSeek (127 million). (Editors: Yang Sheng-ru / Qiu Guo-qiang) 1150505
Choose to stand with facts; your every sponsorship is a force to protect press freedom.
Download the Central News Agency "First-hand News" APP to stay updated with the latest news.
The text, images, and videos on this website may not be reproduced, broadcast, or transmitted publicly or used without authorization.