Sonar Pro vs Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs Qwen Max
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct comes out ahead, 28 to 22 and 20 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
PerplexitySonar Pro
20/100- ECI—
- Price$3.00 / $15.00
- Context200K
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
28/100- ECI129.0
- Price$1.40 / $5.60
- Context131K
- Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen Max
22/100- ECI—
- Price$1.60 / $6.40
- Context33K
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is our pick
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 28/100 against Qwen Max (22) and Sonar Pro (20). It leads on price. Sonar Pro 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 priceQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen2.5 72B Instruct $2.45 · Qwen Max $2.80 · Sonar Pro $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSonar ProSonar Pro 200,000 · Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 131,072 · Qwen Max 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsSonar ProSonar Pro: Text, Images · Qwen2.5 72B Instruct: Text · Qwen Max: Text
- Self-hostingQwen2.5 72B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | Sonar Pro | Qwen2.5 72B Instruct | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 13 | 31 | 29 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 32 | 24 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 20/100 | 28/100 | 22/100 |
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 ProPerplexity | Qwen2.5 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen) | Qwen MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | 129.0 | — |
| ECI rank | — | #128 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 49.2% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 8.1% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $3.00 | $1.40 (best) | $1.60 |
| Output | $15.00 | $5.60 (best) | $6.40 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $6.00 | $2.45 (best) | $2.80 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Perplexity API | Official Alibaba API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 200,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | No |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Open | Proprietary |
| API model ID | sonar-pro | qwen2-5-72b-instruct | qwen-max |
| API providers | 5 | 1 | 6 (best) |
| Released | Jan 1, 2024 | Sep 19, 2024 | Apr 3, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 1, 2025 | Apr 2024 | 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 Pro$60.00
- Qwen2.5 72B Instruct$25.20
- Qwen Max$28.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Sonar Pro, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen Max?
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is the better all-round choice, scoring 28/100 against Qwen Max (22) and Sonar Pro (20). It leads on price. Sonar Pro 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 Pro, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or Qwen Max?
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is cheaper at $1.40 input / $5.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen Max costs $1.60 input / $6.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Sonar Pro costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.45 per million tokens for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct versus $2.80 for Qwen Max (1.1× as much) and $6.00 for Sonar Pro (2.4× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Sonar Pro has not been scored yet, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct has an ECI of 129.0 and Qwen Max has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Sonar Pro, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and Qwen Max yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Sonar Pro does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Sonar Pro has the largest context window at 200,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and 32,768 for Qwen Max. Maximum output per response: Sonar Pro up to 8,192, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct up to 8,192, Qwen Max up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Sonar Pro accepts text and images; Qwen2.5 72B Instruct accepts text; Qwen Max accepts text. Sonar Pro handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Sonar Pro and Qwen Max is proprietary.
Which is newer?
Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 19, 2024. Qwen Max came out Apr 3, 2024; Sonar Pro came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Sonar Pro Sep 1, 2025, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct Apr 2024, Qwen Max 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.
