Sonar Reasoning Pro vs Sonar vs Qwen Max
Too close to call on our weighted score (Sonar 30, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27, Qwen Max 22). The right pick depends on what you value most.
PerplexitySonar Reasoning Pro
27/100- ECI—
- Price$2.00 / $8.00
- Context128K
- Perplexity
Sonar
30/100- ECI—
- Price$1.00 / $1.00
- Context128K
Alibaba (Qwen)Qwen Max
22/100- ECI—
- Price$1.60 / $6.40
- Context33K
Too close to call
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Sonar 30/100, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27/100, Qwen Max 22/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Sonar on price. 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 · Qwen Max $2.80 · Sonar Reasoning Pro $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextSonar Reasoning Pro and SonarSonar Reasoning Pro 128,000 · Sonar 128,000 · Qwen Max 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputsSonar Reasoning ProSonar Reasoning Pro: Text, Images · Sonar: Text · Qwen Max: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Sonar Reasoning Pro | Sonar | Qwen Max |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 24 | 50 | 29 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 35 | 0 | 25 |
| Context window | 20% | 24 | 24 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 27/100 | 30/100 | 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 Reasoning ProPerplexity | SonarPerplexity | Qwen MaxAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $2.00 | $1.00 (best) | $1.60 |
| Output | $8.00 | $1.00 (best) | $6.40 |
| Cached input | — | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.50 | $1.00 (best) | $2.80 |
| 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) | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 4,096 tokens | 4,096 tokens | 8,192 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | 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 | Yes |
| Structured output | No | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | sonar-reasoning-pro | sonar | qwen-max |
| API providers | 4 | 6 (best) | 6 (best) |
| Released | Jan 1, 2024 | Jan 1, 2024 | Apr 3, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 1, 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 Reasoning Pro$36.00
- Sonar$12.00
- Qwen Max$28.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Sonar Reasoning Pro, Sonar or Qwen Max?
It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Sonar 30/100, Sonar Reasoning Pro 27/100, Qwen Max 22/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Sonar on price. 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, Sonar or Qwen Max?
Sonar is cheaper at $1.00 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (official Perplexity API price). Qwen Max costs $1.60 input / $6.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); Sonar Reasoning Pro 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 $1.00 per million tokens for Sonar versus $2.80 for Qwen Max (2.8× as much) and $3.50 for Sonar Reasoning Pro (3.5× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Sonar Reasoning Pro has not been scored yet, Sonar has not been scored yet and Qwen Max has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Sonar Reasoning Pro, Sonar 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 Reasoning Pro and Sonar does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
Sonar Reasoning Pro and Sonar have the largest context windows (128,000 and 128,000 tokens), against 32,768 for Qwen Max. Maximum output per response: Sonar Reasoning Pro up to 4,096, Sonar up to 4,096, Qwen Max up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Sonar Reasoning Pro accepts text and images; Sonar accepts text; Qwen Max accepts text. Sonar Reasoning Pro handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Sonar Reasoning Pro, Sonar and Qwen Max are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Qwen Max is the newest, released Apr 3, 2024. Sonar Reasoning Pro came out Jan 1, 2024; Sonar came out Jan 1, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Sonar Reasoning Pro Sep 1, 2025, Sonar Sep 1, 2025, 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.
