LLM·Dex
Newsletter

Jamba 1.5 Large 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

Jamba 1.5 Large specs · Sonar Pro specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceJamba 1.5 Large

    Jamba 1.5 Large is roughly 1.9× cheaper on output tokens ($8.00 vs $15.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowJamba 1.5 Large

    Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× 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.

  • OpennessJamba 1.5 Large

    Jamba 1.5 Large ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Sonar Pro is API-only.

On balance Jamba 1.5 Large edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Sonar Pro's 0. Jamba 1.5 Large is roughly 1.9× cheaper on output tokens ($8.00 vs $15.00 per 1M). Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× 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. Jamba 1.5 Large ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); Sonar Pro is API-only.

Sonar Pro is the newer of the two, released 5 months after Jamba 1.5 Large, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Jamba 1.5 Large is usually picked for long context and rag 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

SpecJamba 1.5 LargeSonar Pro
ProviderAI21Perplexity
ReleasedAug 2024Jan 2025
Modalitiestexttext
Context window256K tokens200K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$2.00 / 1M tokens$3.00 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$8.00 / 1M tokens$15.00 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,,
Open weightsYes (Jamba Open Model License)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$18.00 vs $31.50
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$180 vs $315
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$348 vs $540

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $18.00 vs $31.50 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $180 vs $315 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $348 vs $540 per month, model A 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.

  • Jamba 1.5 Large$0.600
  • 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.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick Jamba 1.5 Large if

Jamba 1.5 Large fits when…

  • 256k context
  • Efficient long-context inference
  • Open weights
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 1.9× cheaper than Sonar Pro on output tokens.
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Jamba Open Model License).
Pick Sonar Pro if

Sonar Pro fits when…

  • Multi-step web search
  • Deep research output
  • Citations
Don't want either?

Consider Jamba 1.5 Mini

Smaller hybrid SSM-Transformer model, fast and efficient at long contexts.

See Jamba 1.5 Mini specsJamba 1.5 Large vs Jamba 1.5 MiniSonar Pro vs Jamba 1.5 Mini

Frequently asked

  • Is Jamba 1.5 Large or Sonar Pro cheaper?
    Jamba 1.5 Large is cheaper at $8.00 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Sonar Pro.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Jamba 1.5 Large accepts 256K tokens vs 200K for Sonar Pro.
  • Is Jamba 1.5 Large or Sonar Pro better for coding?
    Both Jamba 1.5 Large 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?
    Jamba 1.5 Large ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License). Sonar Pro is API-only.
  • When were Jamba 1.5 Large and Sonar Pro released?
    Jamba 1.5 Large was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22. Sonar Pro was released by Perplexity on 2025-01-21.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.