Qwen Max vs Qwen-VL Max vs Sonar
Qwen-VL Max comes out ahead, 41 to 30 and 22 on our weighted score, though Sonar is 29% cheaper per token.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Max
22/100- ECI—
- Price$1.60 / $6.40
- Context33K
- Our pickAlibaba (Qwen)
Qwen-VL Max
41/100- ECI—
- Price$0.80 / $3.20
- Context131K
PerplexitySonar
30/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context128K
Qwen-VL Max is our pick
Qwen-VL Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 41/100 against Sonar (30) and Qwen Max (22). It leads on inputs & features. Sonar wins 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 priceSonarSonar $1.00 · Qwen-VL Max $1.40 · Qwen Max $2.80 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen-VL MaxQwen-VL Max 131,072 · Sonar 128,000 · Qwen Max 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen-VL MaxQwen Max: Text · Qwen-VL Max: Text, Images · Sonar: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen Max | Qwen-VL Max | Sonar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 29 | 43 | 50 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 50 | 0 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 22/100 | 41/100 | 30/100 |
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-VL MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | SonarPerplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.60 | $0.80 (best) | $1.00 |
| Output | $6.40 | $3.20 | $1.00 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.80 | $1.40 | $1.00 (best) |
| 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 | 131,072 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | No |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen-max | qwen-vl-max | sonar |
| API providers | 6 (best) | 3 | 6 (best) |
| Released | Apr 3, 2024 | Apr 8, 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-VL Max$14.40
- Sonar$12.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen Max, Qwen-VL Max or Sonar?
Qwen-VL Max is the better all-round choice, scoring 41/100 against Sonar (30) and Qwen Max (22). It leads on inputs & features. Sonar wins 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, Qwen Max, Qwen-VL Max or Sonar?
Sonar is cheaper at $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). Qwen-VL Max costs $0.80 input / $3.20 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Qwen Max costs $1.60 input / $6.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.00 per million tokens for Sonar versus $1.40 for Qwen-VL Max (1.4× as much) and $2.80 for Qwen Max (2.8× 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-VL Max 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 Qwen Max, Qwen-VL Max and Sonar yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Sonar does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Qwen-VL Max has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Sonar and 32,768 for Qwen Max. Maximum output per response: Qwen Max up to 8,192, Qwen-VL Max up to 8,192, Sonar up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen Max accepts text; Qwen-VL Max accepts text and images; Sonar accepts text. Qwen-VL Max handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen Max, Qwen-VL Max and Sonar are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen-VL Max is the newest, released Apr 8, 2024. Qwen Max came out Apr 3, 2024; Sonar came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen Max Apr 2024, Qwen-VL Max Apr 2024, 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.
