Sonar Deep Research vs Sonar vs Qwen-MT Plus
Sonar comes out ahead, 30 to 20 and 12 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
PerplexitySonar Deep Research
20/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $8.00
- Context128K
- Our pickPerplexity
Sonar
30/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context128K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen-MT Plus
12/100- ECI—
- Price$2.46 / $7.37
- Context16K
Sonar is our pick
Sonar is the better all-round choice, scoring 30/100 against Sonar Deep Research (20) and Qwen-MT Plus (12). It leads on price. Sonar Deep Research wins on 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 priceSonarSonar $1.00 · Sonar Deep Research $3.50 · Qwen-MT Plus $3.69 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSonar Deep Research and SonarSonar Deep Research 128,000 · Sonar 128,000 · Qwen-MT Plus 16,384 tokens
- Widest inputsSame inputsSonar Deep Research: Text · Sonar: Text · Qwen-MT Plus: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Sonar Deep Research | Sonar | Qwen-MT Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 24 | 50 | 23 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 20/100 | 30/100 | 12/100 |
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 | SonarPerplexity | Qwen-MT PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $2.00 | $1.00 (best) | $2.46 |
| Output | $8.00 | $1.00 (best) | $7.37 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.50 | $1.00 (best) | $3.69 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Perplexity API | Official Perplexity API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 128,000 tokens (best) | 128,000 tokens (best) | 16,384 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yesminimal · low · medium · high | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | No | No |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | sonar-deep-research | sonar | qwen-mt-plus |
| API providers | 3 | 6 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Feb 1, 2025 | Jan 1, 2024 | Jan 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Jan 2025 | Sep 1, 2025 | Apr 2024 |
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
- Sonar$12.00
- Qwen-MT Plus$39.34
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Sonar Deep Research, Sonar or Qwen-MT Plus?
Sonar is the better all-round choice, scoring 30/100 against Sonar Deep Research (20) and Qwen-MT Plus (12). It leads on price. Sonar Deep Research wins on 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, Sonar or Qwen-MT Plus?
Sonar is cheaper at $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). Sonar Deep Research costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price); Qwen-MT Plus costs $2.46 input / $7.37 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.00 per million tokens for Sonar versus $3.50 for Sonar Deep Research (3.5× as much) and $3.69 for Qwen-MT Plus (3.7× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Sonar Deep Research has not been scored yet, Sonar has not been scored yet and Qwen-MT Plus has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Sonar Deep Research, Sonar and Qwen-MT Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Sonar Deep Research, Sonar and Qwen-MT Plus does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Sonar Deep Research and Sonar have the largest context windows (128,000 and 128,000 tokens), against 16,384 for Qwen-MT Plus. Maximum output per response: Sonar Deep Research up to 32,768, Sonar up to 4,096, Qwen-MT Plus up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Sonar Deep Research accepts text; Sonar accepts text; Qwen-MT Plus accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.
Are any of these open source?
No. Sonar Deep Research, Sonar and Qwen-MT Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Sonar Deep Research is the newest, released Feb 1, 2025. Qwen-MT Plus came out Jan 2025; Sonar came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Sonar Deep Research Jan 2025, Sonar Sep 1, 2025, Qwen-MT Plus 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.
