SHENZHEN – Chinese tech giant ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, is testing paid subscriptions for its artificial intelligence chatbot Doubao, in a move towards monetising the technology as both costs and user numbers surge.

Doubao, which is China’s most widely used AI application, with more than 300 million monthly active users, is exploring a tiered subscription model in which people pay either 68 yuan (S$13), 200 yuan or 500 yuan to access premium features. These are said to centre around complex tasks such as making slides, analysing data and producing videos.

The chatbot will continue to have a free version, a Doubao spokesperson said, with the plans on paid subscriptions still in the testing phase. The company has not said when the fee-based services will kick in.

The proposed “freemium” subscription model for Doubao, offering both free and premium levels, would mark a shift from the largely free-to-use chatbot landscape in China right now. Major players have been willing to forgo profits – and instead pay to entice new users – to wrest a bigger share of the market.

Doubao had 345 million monthly active users in March 2026. This is more than double that of Alibaba’s Qwen and DeepSeek’s chatbot apps, which were China’s second and third-most popular AI apps with 166 million and 127 million monthly active users respectively, based on data from QuestMobile, a consultancy.

Doubao users – and computing power consumed – have grown sharply in recent months.

China’s tech giants including ByteDance mounted a marketing blitz during Chinese New Year to attract more users, with Doubao featuring prominently during the Spring Festival Gala, the nation’s most-watched TV show.

Doubao’s monthly active users grew by some 100 million in the first quarte...