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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct vs Sonar Deep Research

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct comes out ahead, 28 to 20 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct

    Released Apr 2025

    28/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.50 / $7.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct

  2. Perplexity

    Sonar Deep Research

    Released Feb 1, 2025

    20/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove Sonar Deep Research

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is our pick

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 28/100 against Sonar Deep Research (20). It leads on price, 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 priceQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct $3.00 · Sonar Deep Research $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 262,144 · Sonar Deep Research 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: Text · Sonar Deep Research: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructSonar Deep Research
Price50%2724
Inputs & features30%2510
Context window20%3724
Overall100%28/10020/100

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.

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct vs Sonar Deep Research specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)Sonar Deep ResearchPerplexity
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$1.50 (best)$2.00
Output$7.50 (best)$8.00
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.00 (best)$3.50
Long-context rateOver 32K: $2.70 / $13.50Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Perplexity API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesminimal · low · medium · high
Tool callingYesNo
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instructsonar-deep-research
API providers7 (best)3
ReleasedApr 2025Feb 1, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Jan 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.

  • Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct$30.00
  • Sonar Deep Research$36.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or Sonar Deep Research?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 28/100 against Sonar Deep Research (20). It leads on price, 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, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct or Sonar Deep Research?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is cheaper at $1.50 input / $7.50 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Sonar Deep Research 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 $3.00 per million tokens for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct versus $3.50 for Sonar Deep Research (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has not been scored yet and Sonar Deep Research has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct and Sonar Deep Research yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Sonar Deep Research 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 Deep Research. Maximum output per response: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct up to 65,536, Sonar Deep Research up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct accepts text; Sonar Deep Research accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Sonar Deep Research is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct is the newest, released Apr 2025. Sonar Deep Research came out Feb 1, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct Apr 2025, Sonar Deep Research Jan 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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