Qwen Max vs Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) vs Sonar Reasoning Pro
Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) comes out ahead, 36 to 27 and 22 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Max
22/100- ECI—
- Price$1.60 / $6.40
- Context33K
- Our pickAlibaba (Qwen)
Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)
36/100- ECI—
- Price$0.50 / $1.40
- Context8K
PerplexitySonar Reasoning Pro
27/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $8.00
- Context128K
Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) is our pick
Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) is the better all-round choice, scoring 36/100 against Sonar Reasoning Pro (27) and Qwen Max (22). It leads on price. Sonar Reasoning Pro wins on inputs & features and context window. 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 priceQwen Plus Character (Japanese)Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) $0.725 · Qwen Max $2.80 · Sonar Reasoning Pro $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSonar Reasoning ProSonar Reasoning Pro 128,000 · Qwen Max 32,768 · Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) 8,192 tokens
- Widest inputsSonar Reasoning ProQwen Max: Text · Qwen Plus Character (Japanese): Text · Sonar Reasoning Pro: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen Max | Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) | Sonar Reasoning Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 29 | 57 | 24 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 0 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 22/100 | 36/100 | 27/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | Qwen MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)Alibaba (Qwen) | Sonar Reasoning ProPerplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.60 | $0.50 (best) | $2.00 |
| Output | $6.40 | $1.40 (best) | $8.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.80 | $0.725 (best) | $3.50 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Official Perplexity API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens (best) | 512 tokens | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yesminimal · low · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen-max | qwen-plus-character-ja | sonar-reasoning-pro |
| API providers | 6 (best) | 1 | 4 |
| Released | Apr 3, 2024 | Jan 2024 | Jan 1, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | Apr 2024 | Sep 1, 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Qwen Max$28.80
- Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)$7.80
- Sonar Reasoning Pro$36.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen Max, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) or Sonar Reasoning Pro?
Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) is the better all-round choice, scoring 36/100 against Sonar Reasoning Pro (27) and Qwen Max (22). It leads on price. Sonar Reasoning Pro wins on inputs & features and context window. 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, Qwen Max, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) or Sonar Reasoning Pro?
Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen Max costs $1.60 input / $6.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Sonar Reasoning Pro costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.725 per million tokens for Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) versus $2.80 for Qwen Max (3.9× as much) and $3.50 for Sonar Reasoning Pro (4.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen Max has not been scored yet, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) has not been scored yet and Sonar Reasoning Pro has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen Max, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) and Sonar Reasoning Pro yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Sonar Reasoning Pro does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Sonar Reasoning Pro has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 32,768 for Qwen Max and 8,192 for Qwen Plus Character (Japanese). Maximum output per response: Qwen Max up to 8,192, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) up to 512, Sonar Reasoning Pro up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen Max accepts text; Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) accepts text; Sonar Reasoning Pro accepts text and images. Sonar Reasoning Pro handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen Max, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) and Sonar Reasoning Pro are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen Max is the newest, released Apr 3, 2024. Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) came out Jan 2024; Sonar Reasoning Pro came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen Max Apr 2024, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) Apr 2024, Sonar Reasoning Pro 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.
