Qwen Max vs Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct vs Sonar Reasoning Pro
Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 28, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27, Qwen Max 22). The right pick depends on what you value most.
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Max
22/100- ECI—
- Price$1.60 / $6.40
- Context33K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct
28/100- ECI—
- Price$1.50 / $7.50
- Context262K
PerplexitySonar Reasoning Pro
27/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $8.00
- Context128K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 28/100, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27/100, Qwen Max 22/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen Max on price and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct for long inputs. 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 MaxQwen Max $2.80 · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct $3.00 · Sonar Reasoning Pro $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 262,144 · Sonar Reasoning Pro 128,000 · Qwen Max 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsSonar Reasoning ProQwen Max: Text · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: Text · Sonar Reasoning Pro: Text, Images
- Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Qwen Max | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct | Sonar Reasoning Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 29 | 27 | 24 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 0 | 37 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 22/100 | 28/100 | 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) | Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Sonar Reasoning ProPerplexity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $1.60 | $1.50 (best) | $2.00 |
| Output | $6.40 (best) | $7.50 | $8.00 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $2.80 (best) | $3.00 | $3.50 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Over 32K: $2.70 / $13.50 | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API | Official Perplexity API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 32,768 tokens | 262,144 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 65,536 tokens (best) | 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 | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen-max | qwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct | sonar-reasoning-pro |
| API providers | 6 | 7 (best) | 4 |
| Released | Apr 3, 2024 | Apr 2025 | Jan 1, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | Apr 2025 | 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
- Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct$30.00
- Sonar Reasoning Pro$36.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen Max, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or Sonar Reasoning Pro?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 1 points (Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 28/100, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27/100, Qwen Max 22/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen Max on price and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct for long inputs. 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, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or Sonar Reasoning Pro?
Qwen Max is cheaper at $1.60 input / $6.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct costs $1.50 input / $7.50 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 $2.80 per million tokens for Qwen Max versus $3.00 for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct (1.1× as much) and $3.50 for Sonar Reasoning Pro (1.3× 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, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 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, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 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?
Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has the largest context window at 262,144 tokens, against 128,000 for Sonar Reasoning Pro and 32,768 for Qwen Max. Maximum output per response: Qwen Max up to 8,192, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct up to 65,536, Sonar Reasoning Pro up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen Max accepts text; Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct accepts text; Sonar Reasoning Pro accepts text and images. Sonar Reasoning Pro handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Qwen Max and Sonar Reasoning Pro is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 2025. Qwen Max came out Apr 3, 2024; Sonar Reasoning Pro came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen Max Apr 2024, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct Apr 2025, 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.
