Sonar Deep Research vs Magistral Medium
Magistral Medium comes out ahead, 30 to 20 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
PerplexitySonar Deep Research
20/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $8.00
- Context128K
- Our pick
Mistral AIMagistral Medium
30/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $5.00
- Context128K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Magistral Medium is our pick
Magistral Medium is the better all-round choice, scoring 30/100 against Sonar Deep Research (20). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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 priceMagistral MediumMagistral Medium $2.75 · Sonar Deep Research $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameSonar Deep Research 128,000 · Magistral Medium 128,000 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsSonar Deep Research: Text · Magistral Medium: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Sonar Deep Research | Magistral Medium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 24 | 29 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 10 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 20/100 | 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 | Sonar Deep ResearchPerplexity | Magistral MediumMistral AI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.00 | $2.00 |
| Output | $8.00 | $5.00 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.50 | $2.75 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Perplexity API | Official Mistral API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens | 128,000 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | Yes |
| Tool calling | No | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | sonar-deep-research | magistral-medium-latest |
| API providers | 3 | 4 (best) |
| Released | Feb 1, 2025 | Mar 17, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Jun 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- Sonar Deep Research$36.00
- Magistral Medium$30.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Sonar Deep Research or Magistral Medium?
Magistral Medium is the better all-round choice, scoring 30/100 against Sonar Deep Research (20). It leads on price and inputs & features. 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, Sonar Deep Research or Magistral Medium?
Magistral Medium is cheaper at $2.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral 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 $2.75 per million tokens for Magistral Medium versus $3.50 for Sonar Deep Research (1.3× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Sonar Deep Research has not been scored yet and Magistral Medium has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Sonar Deep Research and Magistral Medium 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?
Sonar Deep Research and Magistral Medium share the same 128,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: Sonar Deep Research up to 32,768, Magistral Medium up to 16,384 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Sonar Deep Research accepts text; Magistral Medium accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
No. Sonar Deep Research and Magistral Medium are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Magistral Medium is the newest, released Mar 17, 2025. Sonar Deep Research came out Feb 1, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Sonar Deep Research Jan 2025, Magistral Medium Jun 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.
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