Claude Sonnet 4 vs Sonar (Comparative Analysis)
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Comparative Analysis: Claude Sonnet 4 vs. Sonar
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Overview
Sonar was released 3 months before Claude Sonnet 4.
 Claude Sonnet 4 |  Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Model Provider The organization behind this AI's development | Anthropic | Perplexity |
Input Context Window Maximum input tokens this model can process at once | 1M tokens | 127.1K tokens |
Output Token Limit Maximum output tokens this model can generate at once | 64K tokens | Not specified tokens |
Release Date When this model first became publicly available | May 22, 2025 1 year ago May 22nd, 2025 | January 27, 2025 1 year ago January 27th, 2025 |
Knowledge Cutoff Latest training-data date reported by the provider | January 31, 2025 | Not reported |
Capabilities & Features
Compare supported features, modalities, and advanced capabilities
Claude Sonnet 4 | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Input Types Supported input formats | 🖼️Image📝Text📁File | 📝Text🖼️Image |
Reasoning Controls Defaults and configurable reasoning effort | Optional | Not reported |
Output Types Supported output formats | 📝Text | 📝Text |
Tokenizer Text encoding system | Claude | Other |
Key Features Advanced capabilities | ✓Function CallingStructured Output✓Reasoning Mode✓Content Moderation | Function CallingStructured OutputReasoning ModeContent Moderation |
Pricing
Claude Sonnet 4 is roughly 3.0x more expensive compared to Sonar for input tokens and roughly 15.0x more expensive for output tokens.
| Claude Sonnet 4 | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Short Context Pricing Base rates before a long-context threshold applies | ||
Input Token Cost Cost per million input tokens | $3.00 per million tokens | $1.00 per million tokens |
Output Token Cost Cost per million output tokens | $15.00 per million tokens | $1.00 per million tokens |
Web Search Cost Additional cost for each web search operation | $0.01 per search | $0.005 per search |
Cache Read Cost Cost to reuse cached input tokens | $0.30 per million tokens | Not specified |
Cache Write Cost Cost to write input tokens to the cache | $3.75 per million tokens | Not specified |
1-Hour Cache Write Cost Cost to cache input tokens for one hour | $6.00 per million tokens | Not specified |
Long Context Pricing Rates for prompts with 200,000 or more tokens | ||
Input Token Cost Long-context input cost per million tokens | $6.00 per million tokens | Not specified |
Output Token Cost Long-context output cost per million tokens | $22.50 per million tokens | Not specified |
Cache Read Cost Long-context cache read cost per million tokens | $0.60 per million tokens | Not specified |
Cache Write Cost Long-context cache write cost per million tokens | $7.50 per million tokens | Not specified |
Benchmarks
Compare relevant benchmarks between Claude Sonnet 4 and Sonar.
| Claude Sonnet 4 | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Overall model quality across independent evaluations | 28.9 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Coding Index Programming performance across independent evaluations | 37.6 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Agentic Index Ability to complete multi-step agentic tasks | 16.6 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Best Design Arena Score Highest human-preference Elo score across design arenas | 1,197 Elo (#47 in 3D (57.8% win rate)) | Benchmark not available. |
At a Glance
Quick overview of what makes Claude Sonnet 4 and Sonar unique.
Claude Sonnet 4 by Anthropic understands both text and images, can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Premium pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output tokens. Includes built-in content moderation for safer outputs. Released May 22nd, 2025.Sonar by Perplexity understands both text and images. It can handle standard conversations with its 127.1K token context window. Reasonably priced at $1.00/M input and $1.00/M output tokens. Released January 27th, 2025.Explore More Comparisons
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