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Command R+ (08-2024) vs Sonar Large

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

Command R+ (08-2024) specs · Sonar Large specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceSonar Large

    Sonar Large is roughly 10.0× cheaper on output tokens ($1.00 vs $10.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowCommand R+ (08-2024)

    Command R+ (08-2024) accepts 128K tokens vs 127K, 1.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text.

  • OpennessCommand R+ (08-2024)

    Command R+ (08-2024) ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0); Sonar Large is API-only.

On balance Command R+ (08-2024) edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Sonar Large's 1. Sonar Large is roughly 10.0× cheaper on output tokens ($1.00 vs $10.00 per 1M). Command R+ (08-2024) accepts 128K tokens vs 127K, 1.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Command R+ (08-2024) ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0); Sonar Large is API-only.

Sonar Large is the newer of the two, released 3 months after Command R+ (08-2024), which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Command R+ (08-2024) is usually picked for rag and data extraction workloads, while Sonar Large 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

SpecCommand R+ (08-2024)Sonar Large
ProviderCoherePerplexity
ReleasedAug 2024Nov 2024
Modalitiestexttext
Context window128K tokens127K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$2.50 / 1M tokens$1.00 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$10.00 / 1M tokens$1.00 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (CC-BY-NC 4.0)No
API availableYesYes

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$22.50 vs $4.50
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$225 vs $45.00
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$435 vs $156

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $22.50 vs $4.50 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $225 vs $45.00 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $435 vs $156 per month, model B comes out ahead.

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Command R+ (08-2024)$0.750
  • Sonar Large$0.150

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Command R+ (08-2024)Sonar Large
  • MMLU75.7
Pick Command R+ (08-2024) if

Command R+ (08-2024) fits when…

  • RAG-tuned
  • Citation generation
  • Enterprise tooling
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0).
Pick Sonar Large if

Sonar Large fits when…

  • Web-search grounded
  • Citation-first output
  • Cheap
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 10.0× cheaper than Command R+ (08-2024) on output tokens.
Don't want either?

Consider Command R

Cohere's mid-tier RAG-optimized model, affordable and reliable on retrieval workloads.

See Command R specsCommand R+ (08-2024) vs Command RSonar Large vs Command R

Frequently asked

  • Is Command R+ (08-2024) or Sonar Large cheaper?
    Sonar Large is cheaper at $1.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $10.00 / 1M tokens for Command R+ (08-2024).
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Command R+ (08-2024) accepts 128K tokens vs 127K for Sonar Large.
  • Is Command R+ (08-2024) or Sonar Large better for coding?
    Both Command R+ (08-2024) and Sonar Large 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?
    Command R+ (08-2024) ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0). Sonar Large is API-only.
  • When were Command R+ (08-2024) and Sonar Large released?
    Command R+ (08-2024) was released by Cohere on 2024-08-30. Sonar Large was released by Perplexity on 2024-11-19.
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