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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Aya Expanse 32B vs Sonar

Aya Expanse 32B comes out ahead, 33 to 30 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Cohere

    Aya Expanse 32B

    Released Oct 24, 2024

    33/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $1.50
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Aya Expanse 32B

  2. Perplexity

    Sonar

    Released Jan 1, 2024

    30/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.00 / $1.00
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Sonar

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Aya Expanse 32B is our pick

Aya Expanse 32B is the better all-round choice, scoring 33/100 against Sonar (30). It leads on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceAya Expanse 32BAya Expanse 32B $0.75 · Sonar $1.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextAbout the sameAya Expanse 32B 128,000 · Sonar 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsAya Expanse 32B: Text · Sonar: Text
  • Self-hostingAya Expanse 32BPublishes downloadable weights (CC-BY-NC-4.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightAya Expanse 32BSonar
Price50%5650
Inputs & features30%00
Context window20%2424
Overall100%33/10030/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Aya Expanse 32B vs Sonar specifications side by side
SpecificationAya Expanse 32BCohereSonarPerplexity
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50 (best)$1.00
Output$1.50$1.00 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.75 (best)$1.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Perplexity API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens128,000 tokens
Max output4,000 tokens4,096 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoNo
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenCC-BY-NC-4.0Proprietary
API model IDc4ai-aya-expanse-32bsonar
API providers26 (best)
ReleasedOct 24, 2024Jan 1, 2024
Knowledge cutoff—Sep 1, 2025
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Aya Expanse 32B$8.00
  • Sonar$12.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Aya Expanse 32B or Sonar?

Aya Expanse 32B is the better all-round choice, scoring 33/100 against Sonar (30). It leads on price. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Aya Expanse 32B or Sonar?

Aya Expanse 32B is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.50 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). Sonar costs $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.75 per million tokens for Aya Expanse 32B versus $1.00 for Sonar (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Aya Expanse 32B has not been scored yet and Sonar has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Aya Expanse 32B and Sonar yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Aya Expanse 32B and Sonar does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Aya Expanse 32B and Sonar share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Aya Expanse 32B up to 4,000, Sonar up to 4,096 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Aya Expanse 32B accepts text; Sonar accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Aya Expanse 32B publishes its weights (CC-BY-NC-4.0) and can be self-hosted; Sonar is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Aya Expanse 32B is the newest, released Oct 24, 2024. Sonar came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Sonar Sep 1, 2025.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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