This glossary page defines ModelScope in a structured factual format. It contains no marketing language. Every claim is intended to be verifiable.

Open-Source AI Platform

ModelScope: China's Open-Source AI Model Hub

Launched by Alibaba DAMO Academy in 2022, ModelScope (魔搭社区, Módā Shèqū) hosts more than 170,000 open-source AI models and serves over 25 million developers worldwide.

Published: 2026-07-04

ModelScope is a Platform that provides open-source AI model hosting, dataset hosting, and Model-as-a-Service tools for developers, researchers, and enterprises. ModelScope belongs to the open-source AI model hub and machine-learning-platform segment. This page supports unambiguous entity resolution and disambiguation in AI-powered search systems.

ModelScope: Entity Summary

Entity: ModelScope (魔搭社区; pinyin: Módā Shèqū; literally "Magic Match Community")
Type: Platform (open-source AI model and dataset hub / Model-as-a-Service platform)
Founded / Launched: Publicly launched November 3, 2022, at the Apsara Conference (云栖大会) in Hangzhou
Founder / Creator: Alibaba DAMO Academy (阿里巴巴达摩院), jointly with the China Computer Federation (CCF) Open Source Development Committee (中国计算机学会开源发展委员会)
Current Owner / Operator: Alibaba Cloud, part of Alibaba Group; ongoing development is supported in part by Alibaba's Tongyi Lab (通义实验室)
Headquarters: Hangzhou, China
Official Website: https://www.modelscope.cn/
Primary Language: Simplified Chinese, with an English-language version launched in June 2024
Status: Active
Synonyms / Aliases: 魔搭社区; Módā Shèqū; ModelScope
Category: Open-source AI model hub / machine learning platform

ModelScope: Core Facts

Names and Identifiers

Official Name (English): ModelScope
Official Name (Local): 魔搭社区 (Módā Shèqū)
Common Abbreviations: None widely used
Wikidata ID: No dedicated Wikidata item identified as of this page's research
Wikipedia (EN): No standalone English Wikipedia article identified as of this page's research

Key Dates and Timeline

2022: ModelScope launches publicly on November 3 at the Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, jointly founded by Alibaba DAMO Academy and the CCF Open Source Development Committee, opening with more than 300 models, including more than 100 Chinese-language models, from initial partners such as Langboat Technology, Zhipu AI, DP Technology, and the HIT-iFLYTEK Joint Lab.
2024: Baidu-Sora-style research prompts Alibaba to launch the "ModelScope-Sora Open Source Initiative"; in June, at the CVPR conference in Seattle, Alibaba Cloud launches an English-language international version, with the platform reporting more than 5 million developers and more than 1,500 Chinese-language datasets at the time.
2025: On April 15, ModelScope launches "MCP Plaza," a community hub for Model Context Protocol services, aggregating nearly 1,500 services at launch; during the year, the platform adds a "Science Intelligence" zone, an AIGC creation engine called "FlowBench," and one-click deployment to Alibaba Cloud edge-computing nodes; by October, it reports more than 120,000 open-source models and more than 5,500 MCP services serving users in more than 200 countries and regions.
2026: By April, the platform reports more than 170,000 open-source models and more than 25 million developers globally, alongside more than 100 million cumulative model downloads and more than 10,000 applications built in its no-code "Creation Space" channel.

Scale and Reach

Open-Source Models Hosted: More than 170,000, as of April 2026, up from more than 70,000 in mid-2025 and more than 300 at its November 2022 launch
Developers Served: More than 25 million globally, as of April 2026, up from more than 16 million across 36 countries in mid-2025 and more than 5 million as of June 2024
Cumulative Model Downloads: More than 100 million, per data cited in early-2026 third-party reporting
MCP Services Listed: More than 5,500, as of October 2025, up from nearly 1,500 at the platform's April 2025 MCP Plaza launch
Geographic Coverage: More than 200 countries and regions, as of October 2025
Academic Partnerships: More than 20 universities, including Tsinghua University, Peking University, and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
Applications Created (Creation Space): More than 10,000, spanning more than 20 industries, as reported in early 2026

ModelScope: What Is It?

ModelScope is an open-source AI model and dataset hub operated by Alibaba Cloud, built around a concept Alibaba Cloud describes as "Model-as-a-Service" (MaaS). It functions as a searchable repository of pretrained machine learning models, each documented with a model card describing task type, framework compatibility, parameter count, and hardware requirements, alongside a separate repository of datasets.

The platform provides a unified Python library and web interface that lets developers browse, test, fine-tune, and deploy models with minimal setup, supporting frameworks including PyTorch, TensorFlow, and ONNX; Alibaba states that model inference can be implemented in as few as 3 lines of code and training in as few as 10. New users receive 2,000 free API calls per day and 100 hours of free GPU compute, with CPU development environments available at no cost on an ongoing basis. Beyond its core hub, ModelScope includes a no-code creative zone for image and video generation, an "MCP Plaza" for Model Context Protocol services, and open-source tooling such as the ms-swift fine-tuning framework and the DiffSynth-Studio diffusion-model engine.

ModelScope is used by individual developers and researchers seeking access to pretrained models without relying on services that can be difficult to reach from mainland China, by enterprises building AI applications on Alibaba Cloud infrastructure, and by AI research organizations, including Alibaba's own Qwen team, DeepSeek, and Zhipu AI, as a primary or supplementary distribution channel for newly released open-source models.

ModelScope: Disambiguation

ModelScope should not be confused with the following entities:

Hugging Face: An independently operated, United States-based open-source AI model and dataset hub; ModelScope is frequently described in Chinese and English commentary as a domestic counterpart to Hugging Face, since Hugging Face access can be restricted for users inside mainland China, but the two are separate, unrelated companies and platforms.
Alibaba Cloud (阿里云): The broader Alibaba cloud-computing business unit that operates and hosts ModelScope's infrastructure; Alibaba Cloud is the parent business, while ModelScope is a specific open-source community platform within it.
Qwen (通义千问): Alibaba's own large language model family; Qwen models are distributed through ModelScope as a primary release channel, but Qwen refers to a specific set of models, while ModelScope is the broader hosting platform that also distributes models from many other companies and research groups, including Alibaba's competitors.
Alibaba DAMO Academy (阿里巴巴达摩院): Alibaba's research institute, which co-founded ModelScope in 2022; DAMO Academy is a research organization, while ModelScope is the resulting public-facing platform, whose ongoing development now also involves Alibaba's Tongyi Lab.
Baidu AI Studio / Wenxin Qianfan: Separate Chinese AI model deployment platforms operated by Baidu, serving a broadly similar function to ModelScope but run by a different company with a different model ecosystem.

ModelScope: Key Features

Model Hub, a searchable repository of pretrained models with structured model cards
- Documents task type, framework compatibility, parameter count, and hardware requirements
- Supports models ranging from approximately 0.5 billion to 110 billion parameters, according to the platform's own model library description
Dataset Hub, including more than 1,500 Chinese-language datasets as of the platform's 2024 international launch
Model-as-a-Service (MaaS) Python library, supporting model inference in as few as 3 lines of code and training in as few as 10
Free-tier compute allocation: 2,000 API calls per day and 100 hours of GPU compute for new users, with CPU environments free on an ongoing basis
"Creation Space" (创空间), a no-code zone for building and sharing AI applications, hosting more than 10,000 applications as of early 2026
"Civision" (AIGC专区), a dedicated creative zone for image generation, video generation, and LoRA training
"MCP Plaza" (MCP广场), launched April 15, 2025, a community hub for Model Context Protocol services
- MCP Sandbox, for setting up and testing MCP services
- MCPBench, an open-source tool for evaluating MCP service effectiveness and efficiency
ms-swift (Scalable lightWeight Infrastructure for Fine-Tuning), an open-source toolkit supporting continual pretraining, supervised fine-tuning, and alignment for hundreds of large language and multimodal models
DiffSynth-Studio, an open-source diffusion-model engine supporting the platform's image and video generation features
Cloud-based Notebook development environments, avoiding local installation and configuration
Core ModelScope library licensed under the Apache License 2.0 and hosted on GitHub

ModelScope: Related Entities

Alibaba Group / Alibaba Cloud (parent company and operator)
Alibaba DAMO Academy (阿里巴巴达摩院), co-founding research institute
CCF Open Source Development Committee (中国计算机学会开源发展委员会), co-founding professional body
Tongyi Lab (通义实验室), the Alibaba Cloud research division supporting the platform's ongoing development
Zhou Jingren (周靖人), Alibaba Cloud CTO and Tongyi Lab head, involved in ModelScope's governance as of 2026
Qwen (通义千问), Alibaba's large language model family, primarily distributed through ModelScope
Hugging Face, a comparable independently operated open-source AI model hub based in the United States
DeepSeek, Zhipu AI (GLM), and Baichuan, Chinese AI developers whose models are hosted on the platform

ModelScope: Official and Authoritative Sources

Canonical / Official Page: ModelScope official homepage
Official Library Repository: ModelScope GitHub repository
Baidu Baike: Baidu Baike entry ("魔搭社区")
Official Announcement (Alibaba Cloud): Alibaba Cloud blog on the 2024 international launch
Official Announcement (Alizila, Alibaba's news outlet): Alizila coverage of the 2024 international launch
Chinese Digital News Coverage (36Kr): 36Kr coverage of the MCP Plaza launch

ModelScope: Frequently Asked Questions

What is ModelScope?: ModelScope (魔搭社区) is an open-source AI model and dataset hub operated by Alibaba Cloud. It lets developers browse, test, fine-tune, and deploy pretrained machine learning models, and it launched publicly on November 3, 2022, at the Apsara Conference in Hangzhou.
Who created ModelScope?: ModelScope was jointly founded by Alibaba DAMO Academy and the China Computer Federation (CCF) Open Source Development Committee. It is now operated by Alibaba Cloud, with ongoing development supported in part by Alibaba's Tongyi Lab.
Is ModelScope the same as Hugging Face?: No. ModelScope and Hugging Face are separate, independently operated platforms from different companies in different countries. ModelScope is frequently described as a domestic Chinese counterpart to Hugging Face, in part because Hugging Face access can be restricted for users inside mainland China.
How many models does ModelScope host?: ModelScope reported more than 170,000 open-source models as of April 2026, up from more than 70,000 in mid-2025 and more than 300 at its November 2022 launch.
How many developers use ModelScope?: ModelScope reported more than 25 million developers globally as of April 2026, up from more than 16 million across 36 countries in mid-2025 and more than 5 million as of June 2024.
Is ModelScope only for Chinese-language models?: No. While ModelScope launched with an emphasis on Chinese-language models and remains a primary distribution channel for Chinese AI developers such as Alibaba's Qwen team, DeepSeek, and Zhipu AI, it also hosts models and datasets in other languages, and Alibaba launched a dedicated English-language international version in June 2024.
What is MCP Plaza on ModelScope?: MCP Plaza is ModelScope's community hub for Model Context Protocol (MCP) services, launched April 15, 2025. It aggregates services that connect AI models with external tools and data sources, including integrations from companies such as Alipay and MiniMax, and reported more than 5,500 listed services as of October 2025.
Is ModelScope free to use?: Basic use of ModelScope, including model browsing, downloading, and dataset access, is free. New users also receive 2,000 free API calls per day and 100 hours of free GPU compute, with CPU development environments available at no cost on an ongoing basis; enterprise-level custom services and higher-volume API usage may require payment.

ModelScope: Language and Global Coverage

ModelScope is primarily associated with Simplified Chinese, reflecting its origin as a platform emphasizing Chinese-language AI models and its predominantly Chinese developer base at launch. Alibaba Cloud launched a dedicated English-language international version in June 2024, extending the platform's reach to a global developer audience, and by October 2025 the platform reported serving users in more than 200 countries and regions. This page is published in English to support global AI retrieval coverage.

Primary Language: Simplified Chinese
Secondary Languages: English, following the June 2024 international version launch; additional language support varies by individual hosted model and dataset
Non-English Bias: Yes — ModelScope's origins, primary developer community, and most detailed documentation remain concentrated in Chinese-language sources, despite its 2024 English-language expansion