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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Sonar Deep Research vs Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)

Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) comes out ahead, 36 to 20 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Perplexity

    Sonar Deep Research

    Released Feb 1, 2025

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

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)

    Released Jan 2024

    36/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.50 / $1.40
    • Context8K
    Full specs Remove Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) is our pick

Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) is the better all-round choice, scoring 36/100 against Sonar Deep Research (20). It leads on price and inputs & features. Sonar Deep Research wins on 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 · Sonar Deep Research $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextSonar Deep ResearchSonar Deep Research 128,000 · Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) 8,192 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsSonar Deep Research: Text · Qwen Plus Character (Japanese): Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightSonar Deep ResearchQwen Plus Character (Japanese)
Price50%2457
Inputs & features30%1025
Context window20%240
Overall100%20/10036/100

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.

Sonar Deep Research vs Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) specifications side by side
SpecificationSonar Deep ResearchPerplexityQwen Plus Character (Japanese)Alibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.50 (best)
Output$8.00$1.40 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.50$0.725 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Perplexity APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)512 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDsonar-deep-researchqwen-plus-character-ja
API providers3 (best)1
ReleasedFeb 1, 2025Jan 2024
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Apr 2024
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.

  • Sonar Deep Research$36.00
  • Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)$7.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Sonar Deep Research or Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)?

Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) is the better all-round choice, scoring 36/100 against Sonar Deep Research (20). It leads on price and inputs & features. Sonar Deep Research wins on 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, Sonar Deep Research or Qwen Plus Character (Japanese)?

Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) is cheaper at $0.50 input / $1.40 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 $0.725 per million tokens for Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) versus $3.50 for Sonar Deep Research (4.8× 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 Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Sonar Deep Research and Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) 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 has the largest context window at 128,000 tokens, against 8,192 for Qwen Plus Character (Japanese). Maximum output per response: Sonar Deep Research up to 32,768, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) up to 512 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Sonar Deep Research accepts text; Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

No. Sonar Deep Research and Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Sonar Deep Research is the newest, released Feb 1, 2025. Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) came out Jan 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Sonar Deep Research Jan 2025, Qwen Plus Character (Japanese) Apr 2024.

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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