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Head-to-head comparison

Sonar vs Sonar Deep Research

Sonar (Perplexity) and Sonar Deep Research (Perplexity) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 17 August 2026

As of 17 August 2026, Sonar holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#196 vs #232); Sonar is 8× cheaper per output token ($1.00/1M vs $8.00/1M); and Sonar Deep Research offers the longer context window (128K vs 127K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Sonar if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #196 against #232 (9.6 vs 0.0 points).
  • API cost matters — $1.00/1M output tokens against $8.00/1M, about 8× cheaper.
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $1.00/1M against $2.00/1M.

Choose Sonar Deep Research if…

  • you need the longer context window — 128K tokens against 127K.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Sonar Deep Research was listed 7 March 2025, Sonar 27 January 2025.

Sonar vs Sonar Deep Research: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Sonar and Sonar Deep Research
FieldSonarPerplexitySonar Deep ResearchPerplexity
ModelCap Index position#196#232
Index score9.60.0
EvidenceMeasuredEstimated
Input price / 1M tokens$1.00$2.00
Output price / 1M tokens$1.00$8.00
Context window127K tokens128K tokens
Max output tokens——
API providers listed11
Weight accessAPI onlyAPI only
Input modalitiesText, ImageText
First listed27 January 20257 March 2025
PublisherPerplexityPerplexity

Evidence: 1 public benchmark observation across 1 board · publisher corpus prior · leave-one-anchor-out calibrated. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Sonar vs Sonar Deep Research

Public benchmark boards where Sonar or Sonar Deep Research has a published result
BoardSonarSonar Deep ResearchLeads
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis9.4intelligence-index—Only one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Sonar vs Sonar Deep Research: common questions

Is Sonar better than Sonar Deep Research?

Sonar ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 17 August 2026: #196 against #232. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Sonar cheaper than Sonar Deep Research?

Sonar is cheaper on output tokens: $1.00/1M against $8.00/1M. Input tokens are $1.00/1M for Sonar and $2.00/1M for Sonar Deep Research. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Sonar or Sonar Deep Research?

Sonar Deep Research has the larger context window: 128K tokens against 127K.

Which is better for coding, Sonar or Sonar Deep Research?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Sonar and Sonar Deep Research open-weight models?

Sonar: API only. Sonar Deep Research: API only. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Sonar and Sonar Deep Research?

ModelCap currently lists 1 API provider for Sonar and 1 for Sonar Deep Research, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Sonar vs Sonar Deep Research comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 17 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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