DeepSeek V3.2 vs Sonar (Comparative Analysis)
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Comparative Analysis: DeepSeek V3.2 vs. Sonar
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Overview
Sonar was released 10 months before DeepSeek V3.2.
 DeepSeek V3.2 |  Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Model Provider The organization behind this AI's development | DeepSeek | Perplexity |
Input Context Window Maximum input tokens this model can process at once | 163.8K tokens | 127.1K tokens |
Output Token Limit Maximum output tokens this model can generate at once | 65.5K tokens | Not specified tokens |
Release Date When this model first became publicly available | December 1, 2025 7 months ago December 1st, 2025 | January 27, 2025 1 year ago January 27th, 2025 |
Capabilities & Features
Compare supported features, modalities, and advanced capabilities
DeepSeek V3.2 | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Input Types Supported input formats | 📝Text | 📝Text🖼️Image |
Reasoning Controls Defaults and configurable reasoning effort | Optional | Not reported |
Output Types Supported output formats | 📝Text | 📝Text |
Tokenizer Text encoding system | DeepSeek | Other |
Key Features Advanced capabilities | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning ModeContent Moderation | Function CallingStructured OutputReasoning ModeContent Moderation |
Open Source Model availability | Available on HuggingFace → | Proprietary |
Pricing
DeepSeek V3.2 is roughly 0.3x less expensive compared to Sonar for input tokens and roughly 0.4x less expensive for output tokens.
| DeepSeek V3.2 | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Input Token Cost Cost per million input tokens | $0.27 per million tokens | $1.00 per million tokens |
Output Token Cost Cost per million output tokens | $0.40 per million tokens | $1.00 per million tokens |
Web Search Cost Additional cost for each web search operation | Not specified | $0.005 per search |
Cache Read Cost Cost to reuse cached input tokens | $0.13 per million tokens | Not specified |
Benchmarks
Compare relevant benchmarks between DeepSeek V3.2 and Sonar.
| DeepSeek V3.2 | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Overall model quality across independent evaluations | 32 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Coding Index Programming performance across independent evaluations | 44.2 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Agentic Index Ability to complete multi-step agentic tasks | 18.3 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Best Design Arena Score Highest human-preference Elo score across design arenas | 1,200 Elo (#55 in Website (50.2% win rate)) | Benchmark not available. |
At a Glance
Quick overview of what makes DeepSeek V3.2 and Sonar unique.
DeepSeek V3.2 by DeepSeek can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 163.8K token context window. Very affordable at $0.27/M input and $0.40/M output tokens. Released December 1st, 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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