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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 30, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Perplexity

    Sonar Reasoning Pro

    Released Jan 1, 2024

    27/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context128K
  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct

    Released Sep 2024

    30/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$2.80 / $8.40
    • Context131K
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01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 30/100, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Sonar Reasoning Pro on price and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct for long inputs. 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 priceSonar Reasoning ProSonar Reasoning Pro $3.50 · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct $4.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen2.5-VL 72B InstructQwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 131,072 · Sonar Reasoning Pro 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsSonar Reasoning Pro: Text, Images · Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen2.5-VL 72B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightSonar Reasoning ProQwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct
Price50%2420
Inputs & features30%3550
Context window20%2424
Overall100%27/10030/100

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 Reasoning Pro vs Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationSonar Reasoning ProPerplexityQwen2.5-VL 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00 (best)$2.80
Output$8.00 (best)$8.40
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.50 (best)$4.20
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Perplexity APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output4,096 tokens8,192 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDsonar-reasoning-proqwen2-5-vl-72b-instruct
API providers4 (best)1
ReleasedJan 1, 2024Sep 2024
Knowledge cutoffSep 1, 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 Reasoning Pro$36.00
  • Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct$44.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Sonar Reasoning Pro or Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 30/100, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Sonar Reasoning Pro on price and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct for long inputs. 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 Reasoning Pro or Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct?

Sonar Reasoning Pro is cheaper at $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct costs $2.80 input / $8.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $3.50 per million tokens for Sonar Reasoning Pro versus $4.20 for Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Sonar Reasoning Pro has not been scored yet and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Sonar Reasoning Pro and Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Sonar Reasoning Pro does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for Sonar Reasoning Pro. Maximum output per response: Sonar Reasoning Pro up to 4,096, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Sonar Reasoning Pro accepts text and images; Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct accepts text and images. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; Sonar Reasoning Pro is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 2024. Sonar Reasoning Pro came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Sonar Reasoning Pro Sep 1, 2025, Qwen2.5-VL 72B Instruct 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.