Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs Sonar (Comparative Analysis)
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Comparative Analysis: Gemini 3 Flash Preview vs. Sonar
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Overview
Sonar was released 10 months before Gemini 3 Flash Preview.
 Gemini 3 Flash Preview |  Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Model Provider The organization behind this AI's development | Google | 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 | 65.5K tokens | Not specified tokens |
Release Date When this model first became publicly available | December 17, 2025 7 months ago December 17th, 2025 | January 27, 2025 1 year ago January 27th, 2025 |
Capabilities & Features
Compare supported features, modalities, and advanced capabilities
Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Input Types Supported input formats | 📝Text🖼️Image📁File🎵Audio🎬Video | 📝Text🖼️Image |
Reasoning Controls Defaults and configurable reasoning effort | OptionalEffort: High, Medium, Low, MinimalDefault: Medium | Not reported |
Output Types Supported output formats | 📝Text | 📝Text |
Tokenizer Text encoding system | Gemini | Other |
Key Features Advanced capabilities | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning ModeContent Moderation | Function CallingStructured OutputReasoning ModeContent Moderation |
Pricing
Gemini 3 Flash Preview is roughly 0.5x less expensive compared to Sonar for input tokens and roughly 3.0x more expensive for output tokens.
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Input Token Cost Cost per million input tokens | $0.50 per million tokens | $1.00 per million tokens |
Output Token Cost Cost per million output tokens | $3.00 per million tokens | $1.00 per million tokens |
Web Search Cost Additional cost for each web search operation | $0.014 per search | $0.005 per search |
Cache Read Cost Cost to reuse cached input tokens | $0.05 per million tokens | Not specified |
Cache Write Cost Cost to write input tokens to the cache | $0.08 per million tokens | Not specified |
Reasoning Token Cost Cost for internal reasoning tokens | $3.00 per million tokens | Not specified |
Image Input Cost Additional cost for each image input | $0.0000005 per image | Not specified |
Audio Input Cost Additional cost for audio input | $0.000001 per unit | Not specified |
Audio Cache Cost Cost to reuse cached audio input tokens | $0.10 per million tokens | Not specified |
Benchmarks
Compare relevant benchmarks between Gemini 3 Flash Preview and Sonar.
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Sonar | |
|---|---|---|
Best Design Arena Score Highest human-preference Elo score across design arenas | 1,257 Elo (#32 in 3D (62.7% win rate)) | Benchmark not available. |
At a Glance
Quick overview of what makes Gemini 3 Flash Preview and Sonar unique.
Gemini 3 Flash Preview by Google understands both text and images, handles audio, analyzes video, can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Reasonably priced at $0.50/M input and $3.00/M output tokens. Released December 17th, 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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