Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs Sonar Pro
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Claude 3.5 Sonnet specs · Sonar Pro specs- PriceTie
Both land near $15.00 / 1M output tokens, call it a wash on cost.
- Context windowTie
Both ship a 200K-token context window.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesClaude 3.5 Sonnet
Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Sonar Pro.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance Claude 3.5 Sonnet edges ahead, winning 1 of 5 categories against Sonar Pro's 0. Both land near $15.00 / 1M output tokens, call it a wash on cost. Both ship a 200K-token context window.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Claude 3.5 Sonnet handles text, vision while Sonar Pro handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
Sonar Pro is the newer of the two, released 3 months after Claude 3.5 Sonnet, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Claude 3.5 Sonnet is usually picked for coding llm and code review workloads, while Sonar Pro sees more deployments in research agent and rag. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Sonar Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | Perplexity |
| Released | Oct 2024 | Jan 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $3.00 / 1M tokens | $3.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $15.00 / 1M tokens | $15.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | , |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$31.50 vs $31.50
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$315 vs $315
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$540 vs $540
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: both models cost about $31.50 a month, call it a tie. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: both models cost about $315 a month, call it a tie. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: both models cost about $540 a month, call it a tie.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet$1.05
- Sonar Pro$1.05
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- HumanEval92.0
Claude 3.5 Sonnet fits when…
- Mature and battle-tested
- Strong code
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Sonar Pro fits when…
- Multi-step web search
- Deep research output
- Citations
Consider Claude Opus 4.7
Anthropic's mid-2026 flagship, ahead on SWE-bench, agent reliability, and writing quality.
Frequently asked
Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Sonar Pro cheaper?
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Sonar Pro are priced equivalently at $15.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens.Which has the larger context window?
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Sonar Pro ship a 200K-token context window.Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or Sonar Pro better for coding?
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Sonar Pro are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.When were Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Sonar Pro released?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet was released by Anthropic on 2024-10-22. Sonar Pro was released by Perplexity on 2025-01-21.
The week's AI launches, in your inbox.
One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.