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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

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

Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct comes out ahead, 28 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)

    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

  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 inputsSonar Deep Research: Text · Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightSonar Deep ResearchQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct
Price50%2427
Inputs & features30%1025
Context window20%2437
Overall100%20/10028/100

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 Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationSonar Deep ResearchPerplexityQwen3-Coder 480B-A35B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$1.50 (best)
Output$8.00$7.50 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.50$3.00 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateOver 32K: $2.70 / $13.50
Price sourceOfficial Perplexity APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens262,144 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDsonar-deep-researchqwen3-coder-480b-a35b-instruct
API providers37 (best)
ReleasedFeb 1, 2025Apr 2025
Knowledge cutoffJan 2025Apr 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.

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

Which should you choose?

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

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, Sonar Deep Research or Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct?

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. Sonar Deep Research has not been scored yet and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Sonar Deep Research and Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 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: Sonar Deep Research up to 32,768, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Sonar Deep Research accepts text; Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct 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: Sonar Deep Research Jan 2025, Qwen3-Coder 480B-A35B Instruct Apr 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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