The grasshopper community composition, amount and species diversity were surveyed among four vegetation types in the Qilian Mountains to reveal the distribution patterns of grasshopper diversity among varying habitats. This research aims to offer scientific insights into the formation and maintenance of grasshopper diversity, as well as the regulation of population levels within rangeland ecosystems. The netting method was used to investigate the community composition, abundance, and diversity of grasshoppers across the desert rangeland, mountain rangeland, alpine meadow, and alpine brushlands of the Qilian Mountains. A total of 1 551 individuals of grasshoppers were collected, belonging to 5 families and 41 species. The composition, abundance, and diversity of grasshopper communities are significantly influenced by vegetation type. There were 26 and 25 species under mountain rangeland and desert rangeland, accounting for 63.9% and 60.9% of the total species, respectively. In alpine meadows and alpine brushlands, 18 and 10 species were surveyed, accounting for 43.9% and 24.4% of the total species, respectively. In the taxonomic unit of family, Tettigoniidae and Acrididae contain 15 and 13 species, respectively, accounting for 36.6% and 21.7% of the total species diversity. They represent dominant groups among grasshoppers in the Qilian Mountains. In the desert rangeland, grasshopper species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and evenness index are the highest, whereas in the alpine brushlands, they are at their lowest. Conversely, the Simpson diversity index is highest in the alpine brushlands and lowest in the mountain rangeland. The similarities in grasshopper communities varied across different vegetation types, with the highest similarity observed between the desert rangeland and the mountain rangeland and alpine meadow. In contrast, the similarity is lower between the desert rangeland and alpine brushlands. The redundancy analysis results revealed that the frequency of gramineae the coverage of legumes, and their biomass played a crucial role in shaping the variation of grasshopper community composition and distribution in the Qilian Mountains grasslands. The results indicate that different altitudes, terrain characteristics, and grazing disturbances are coupled, leading to heterogeneity in water and thermal resources as well as vegetation community characteristics in the Qilian Mountains. This heterogeneity significantly influences the habitat, survival, reproduction, and feeding habits of grasshoppers, thereby driving variations in the composition, distribution, and abundance of grasshopper communities across different vegetation types.