[Word-Processing AI]Word-Processing AI Showdown (Word Copilot vs WPS AI vs Qwen)
Summary: One table to understand the long-doc, continuation, and formatting differences across mainstream word-processing AI tools.
⚠️ Price Disclaimer: Prices in this article are compiled from publicly available information released by each vendor in 2024–2025. Domestic AI products iterate extremely fast—membership benefits and pricing tiers may change at any time. Please refer to the official page before placing any order.
1. Pain Points: Where Exactly Do Word Documents Get Stuck?
End-of-year summaries, month-opening reports, last-minute tender docs—word-processing work is always the most frequent and grinding task in the office. Let's run through a few common scenarios and see how many hit home for you:
- You've got a 5,000-word annual report—you have to read it cover to cover before summarizing, then revise the summary three times;
- Your boss says "rework it using this template"—the template contains both mail merge (pairing a template letter with a name list to auto-generate N letters with different names) and variable fields, and your fingers cramp from copy-pasting;
- You're only on the second paragraph when inspiration runs dry—staring at the cursor for five minutes;
- After all that struggle, the formatting is wrecked—heading font sizes are wrong, list levels are off, and every page has a different header and footer.
In the past, our workaround was: grind it out, pull overtime, and chip away at it bit by bit with macros. But since 2024, word-processing AI has been able to swallow up most of the hardest stretch of the journey—from blank page to finished draft.
So here's the question—there are tons of word-processing AIs on the market: Microsoft Copilot (Word), WPS AI, Alibaba Qwen, Moonshot Kimi, Baidu Wenxin Yiyan, and ChatGPT…which one is actually right for our everyday Word/text work? This article lines them up for a hands-on comparison.
2. Target Outcome: What You'll Be Able to Do After Reading
- No more selection paralysis: know which AI is the most hassle-free for day-to-day document writing;
- Master at least 2 tools: one free tier, one paid tier;
- Grasp the core differences: long documents, formatting, and mail merge—these three areas show wildly different performance across AI tools;
- Avoid the traps: the membership systems are complex (looking at you, WPS)—read the fine print before renewing.
3. Case Study: A 5,000-Word Year-End Summary—Who Writes It Fastest and Best?
Let's use the most common real-world task as the test question: "Polish a 5,000-word department year-end summary. Keep the original facts; restructure it into 'Achievements—Issues—Next Year's Plan'; target length around 3,500 words."
The task mixes three capabilities at once: long-document reading (5,000-word source) → structured rewriting → formatting restoration. We're putting 5 main contenders head-to-head (ChatGPT serves only as the international baseline—it appears once in the test design above and stays out of the comparison table).
3.1 Test Design
| Contender | Version | Entry Point |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot (Word) | M365 Premium Personal | Copilot sidebar inside Word |
| WPS AI (Smart Docs) | Super Membership (2024–2025 current system) | WPS Writer AI Assistant |
| Alibaba Qwen | Qwen web version (Qwen3, 100K-token context) | tongyi.aliyun.com |
| Kimi | kimi.moonshot.cn web version | Read long doc, then rewrite |
| Wenxin Yiyan | Wenxin web/App (fully free since April 2025) | yiyan.baidu.com |
| ChatGPT general assistant | GPT-4o web version | International baseline reference only |
Note: This article does not benchmark "which company's model is smarter" in the academic-paper sense—it only looks at the real-world office experience—whether it works, how easy it is to edit, and how often it makes mistakes.
3.2 Showdown Comparison Table
| Dimension | Word Copilot | WPS AI | Qwen (Qwen3) | Kimi | Wenxin Yiyan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000-word source read | ✅ Smooth (called directly inside doc) | ✅ Smooth (desktop) | ✅ Smooth (within 100K tokens) | ✅ Smooth (within 2M tokens) | ✅ Smooth |
| Structured rewrite quality | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Steady style, formal tone | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Adequate but template-heavy | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Strongest in official-doc/summary scenarios | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fluid content | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Skews toward Chinese written style |
| Formatting restoration (heading/list/header) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Native Word formatting, near-zero loss | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Good on desktop, mobile often loses format | ⭐⭐⭐ Outputs plain text; styles applied manually | ⭐⭐⭐ Same as Qwen—manual styling required | ⭐⭐⭐ Same as above |
| Mail merge assistance | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Helps with Excel data sources, prompts for fields, links files | ⭐⭐⭐ WPS has built-in mail merge; AI only assists field entry | ❌ Not its strength | ❌ Not its strength | ❌ Not its strength |
| Template support (company templates) | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Directly consumes .dotx company templates | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Supports .wps/.docx templates | ⭐⭐ Need to copy templates yourself | ⭐⭐ Same as above | ⭐⭐ Same as above |
| Chinese writing quality | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Business-rigorous, occasional translation-ese | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Down-to-earth, templated | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Top-tier for official/policy docs | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fluid and natural | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Native-level |
| Offline vs. cloud | Cloud (must be online) | Mostly cloud | Cloud | Cloud | Cloud |
| Pricing tier (2024–2025 public) | Personal M365 Premium ≈ $19.99/month; Enterprise Copilot ≈ $30/user/month (requires base M365 license) | AI Membership ≈ 25 元/month or 248 元/year; Super Membership = Super Member + AI Member + 1T cloud storage | Web/App free; advanced features (e.g. 100-page PDF analysis) Qwen Membership ≈ 19 元/month | Four membership tiers: 49 / 99 / 199 / 699 元/month (monthly auto-renew price) | Fully free since 2025-04-01 (historical memberships refunded) |
| Onboarding difficulty | Low (click directly in Word) | Low (click directly in WPS) | Low (chat box) | Low (chat box) | Low (chat box) |
| Bottom line | Pricier but worry-free; enterprise first choice | Domestic office suite; best value for money | Free + strongest for official docs | King of ultra-long docs | Free + Baidu ecosystem |
⚠️ The "Pricing tier" column above compiles public information from 2024–2025 across vendors. Specific order amounts, renewal rules, and refund policies may change at any time—please refer to whatever is shown on the official site when you open it. Kimi paused new C-end subscriptions in July 2026 due to compute capacity constraints—check the official announcement before subscribing.
3.3 Hands-On Example: Hand This 5,000-Word Summary Over to AI
Using Word Copilot as the main demo (the flow is nearly identical for other tools), three steps and you're done.
Step 1: Clean up the source document.
Open Word → 文件 → 打开 your year-end summary (around 5,000 words). Note that Copilot in Word only recognizes files on OneDrive or SharePoint—local disk files must be uploaded to the cloud first (this trips up many first-time users).
Step 2: Issue instructions in the Copilot sidebar.
Open Copilot (the "Copilot" button in the top-right of Word) and type the prompt:
请把这份 5000 字的部门年度总结改写成"成绩—问题—明年计划"三段式，
要求：
1. 保留原文所有数字、人名、项目名；
2. 全文压缩到 3500 字左右；
3. 语气保持正式的书面汇报风格；
4. 每个段落保留小标题，便于复制到 PPT。This sample Chinese prompt is preserved verbatim because the test scenario itself is Chinese-context: the source document is a 5,000-word Chinese year-end summary, and half the contenders in this showdown (WPS AI, Qwen, Kimi, Wenxin Yiyan) are natively Chinese-facing tools whose strengths this test is designed to probe. All five main contenders handle Chinese prompts without issue. For English-context runs, just translate the same structure verbatim.
Step 3: Paste the generated content back and verify manually.
Copilot will generate the "draft" paragraphs directly in Word without overwriting your original. What you need to do:
- Read through the entire output; pay close attention to numbers, names, and dates—AI occasionally "confidently fabricates";
- Manually bold the "Achievements / Issues / Next Year's Plan" sections;
- Adjust page numbers, headers, footers, and other styles unique to your company's template.
Send the same prompt to Qwen, Wenxin Yiyan, or Kimi and they'll give you a plain-text block—paste it back into Word and add the styles yourself. This is the common pitfall of "web-chat AI"—easy to write, formatting rework required.
4. Why the Gap in Formatting Restoration?
In one sentence: the closer to the Word core, the more stable the formatting; the further away, the more manual styling you have to add.
- Word Copilot is Microsoft embedding its own GPT-4o into the Word core to generate content. It directly reads and writes the styles, heading levels, and list numbering inside .docx—output comes as pre-formatted paragraphs.
- WPS AI is Kingsoft embedding Qwen/Qwen-family models into the WPS Writer component—essentially the same "stick-to-the-editor" approach as Copilot, but with a slightly weaker underlying model, so text quality lags slightly behind Copilot.
- Qwen / Kimi / Wenxin Yiyan / ChatGPT are all "web chat box" tools outputting Markdown or plain text—styles are completely decoupled from your .docx—you get a "half-finished product" and have to apply formatting manually.
So the conclusion is simple:
- To grow AI "directly inside the document", choose Copilot or WPS AI;
- For free, long documents, official-doc style, choose Qwen or Kimi as your "draft generator," then format in Word/WPS yourself;
- Combine the two (Copilot + Qwen) for the best results—this is the actual combo I used to write this showdown.
5. Pitfall Guide: 5 Lessons That Save You Three Days of Trial and Error
① Read the membership structure before paying—WPS's nested tiers are the worst.
WPS now runs three parallel memberships: Super Membership (PDF, templates, cloud storage), AI Membership (AI writing, Q&A, translation—separately billed at 248 元/year), and Super Membership / 大会员 (the former two + 1T cloud storage). Early users complained that "Super Membership used to include AI for free, but now AI must be purchased separately"—before you pay, make sure you know which tier you're buying. Don't rush into an annual subscription.
② Copilot requires a base M365 license—you can't buy it standalone.
Enterprise Copilot is a $30/user/month add-on license; you must also purchase Business Standard / Premium / E3 / or E5 to use it. Buying only Copilot without the base M365 is like buying an engine without a car—it won't run. For individual users, look for M365 Premium ≈ $19.99/month, which already bundles Office + Copilot.
③ Don't dump the entire long document into AI at once.
Word Copilot has a hidden gotcha on long docs: a single read has a payload cap (the official guidance "approximately 1.5 million words / 300 pages" is a reference value—it's often shorter in reality). For a 50,000-word contract, the AI may read only the first 10,000 words and not tell you it skipped the rest. The right approach: split the doc into sections and feed them chapter by chapter, or use Kimi or Qwen with "million-character context" to do an initial pass-through.
④ Files must live on OneDrive/SharePoint—not your Desktop.
Word Copilot can't connect to truly local paths (the D drive, a USB drive, and the like). If your .docx sits on the desktop, either upload it to OneDrive, or use WPS AI (which handles local paths).
⑤ Mail merge can only get AI assistance—don't rely on it fully.
Copilot can help you "recognize Excel headers → recommend merge fields → link data sources," but the final merged document is generated by Word itself. WPS AI is even less helpful here—the recommended flow is: use WPS/Word for merging → let AI only draft the body of the template.
6. Advanced Extensions: Taking This Combo to the Limit
If you've already mastered Word + AI, here's how to level up next:
- API for batch operations: Qwen, Kimi, and Wenxin all expose APIs at a few cents per thousand tokens. For repetitive text like daily/weekly reports, you can script automated API calls to batch-generate;
- VBA + AI chain: Use a Word VBA macro to read an Excel name list → call the Qwen API → auto-fill the AI output back into the template body—and generate 100 different emails/notices in one click. This combo has detailed tutorials in our series' B-series articles;
- Mail merge + AI: Extend the VBA idea above to mail merge, letting AI generate "personalized body text" for each row of Excel data, and batch-export .docx;
- Multi-AI comparison: Send the same prompt to 3 AIs at once, splice the three results, and edit—often better than any single AI. A standard technique used by professional writing teams.
Quick Reference Card
| Your Scenario | Recommended Tool |
|---|---|
| Formal official docs / policy interpretation | Qwen (free), Wenxin Yiyan (free) |
| Reports/contracts over 5,000 words | Kimi (2M-character context) |
| Write reports directly in Word | Word Copilot or WPS AI |
| Company template + mail merge | Word Copilot (enterprise first), WPS AI (domestic office suite) |
| Pure free, no spend | Qwen + Wenxin Yiyan combo |
| Long-term heavy use, enterprise | M365 Copilot Enterprise ($30/user/month) |
| Individual user in China, best value | WPS AI Super Membership |
One last reminder: all prices, membership tiers, and model versions in this article compile 2024–2025 public information. AI products iterate extremely fast—please verify the latest plans on the official pages before ordering.
Author: 贺迅 · vba.net "AI-Powered Office: From Beginner to Expert" series · Article D2