Sonar Pro vs Qwen3 30B A3B
Sonar Pro and Qwen3 30B A3B tie on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index at 7.6, and Qwen3 30B A3B costs 30.0x less per output token ($0.50 vs $15.00 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; 5 benchmarks have a result for both.
Sonar Pro or Qwen3 30B A3B: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Sonar Pro for a larger context window (200K against 41K tokens) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) or GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.
- Shared results
- 5
- Sonar Pro only
- 0
- Qwen3 30B A3B only
- 47
- Like-for-like categories
- 4 of 9
Only benchmarks that tested both models count toward a pick; a result only one model has is shown but not compared.
Which one for your work
Each card is decided by one number both models carry. Where only one has it, the card says so and makes no call.
Coding
Vibe Coding Index, six public coding benchmarks
No call
Neither has a coding score yet.
One side not measured
Intelligence
AA Intelligence Index
No call
Tied at 7.6.
Same board, both measured
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Qwen3 30B A3B has a Design Arena: websites result, 955.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Sonar Pro
Sonar Pro takes 200K tokens against 41K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3 30B A3B
Sonar Pro $0.011, Qwen3 30B A3B $0.0004 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Sonar Pro not benchmarked, Qwen3 30B A3B not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- Coding, 23.1 points apart on average over 1 shared benchmark.
- Widest single gap
- LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run): Sonar Pro 27.5% against Qwen3 30B A3B 50.6%, 23.1 points apart on a 0 to 100 scale.
- Output price
- Sonar Pro $15.00 against Qwen3 30B A3B $0.50 per million output tokens, 30.0x apart.
- Context window
- Sonar Pro takes 200K tokens, Qwen3 30B A3B 41K.
Benchmark by benchmark
First the score: boards each model leads, per category, where both have a result. Then every board, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale, so compare the two in a row, not one row with another.
| Category | Sonar Pro | Bars | Qwen3 30B A3B | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coding | 0 | 1 | ||
| Intelligence | 0 | 0 | 1 tie | |
| Reasoning | 1 | 1 | ||
| Knowledge | 0 | 1 | ||
| All shared boards | 1 | 3 | 1 tie |
CodingLike-for-likeSix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index01
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 27.5% | 50.6% | Qwen3 30B A3B |
| Terminal-Bench Hard (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 6.8% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| WeirdML | Not measured | 29.8% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: coding | Not measured | 1337 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: software and IT | Not measured | 1340 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 34 boards here | |||
IntelligenceLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index00
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 7.6 | 7.6 | Tie |
| Epoch Capabilities Index | Not measured | 137.3 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
Agentic workDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board, none shared
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| τ²-Bench Telecom | Not measured | 26.0% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 40 boards here | |||
ReasoningLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index11
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 57.8% | 61.6% | Qwen3 30B A3B |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 6.6% | 6.2% | Sonar Pro |
| GPQA Diamond (Epoch AI run) | Not measured | 61.7% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts | Not measured | 1314 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: expert | Not measured | 1314 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: hard prompts in English | Not measured | 1329 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 16 boards here | |||
MathDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Math Index | Not measured | 72.3 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| AIME 2025 (Artificial Analysis run) | Not measured | 72.3% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| OTIS Mock AIME | Not measured | 62.8% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: math | Not measured | 1355 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: mathematical work | Not measured | 1363 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 8 boards here | |||
KnowledgeLike-for-likePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index01
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 75.5% | 77.7% | Qwen3 30B A3B |
| LMArena Text: science | Not measured | 1321 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: medicine and healthcare | Not measured | 1318 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: legal and government | Not measured | 1314 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: business and finance | Not measured | 1309 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 13 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index5 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 955 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 946 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 899 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 967 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 942 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 4 boards here | |||
GeneralDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index23 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| IFBench | Not measured | 41.5% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Long context reasoning (AA-LCR) | Not measured | 0.0% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| DTBench | Not measured | 60.3% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMCA | Not measured | 15.8% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Fiction.LiveBench | Not measured | 40.6% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Creative writing (Lech Mazur) | Not measured | 75.3% | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text | Not measured | 1317 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: instruction following | Not measured | 1283 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: creative writing | Not measured | 1271 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: English | Not measured | 1335 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: non-English | Not measured | 1295 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Chinese | Not measured | 1347 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: German | Not measured | 1307 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Japanese | Not measured | 1254 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Korean | Not measured | 1261 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: French | Not measured | 1352 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Spanish | Not measured | 1317 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Russian | Not measured | 1291 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: Polish | Not measured | 1299 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: multi-turn | Not measured | 1307 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: longer queries | Not measured | 1312 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: writing and language | Not measured | 1290 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| LMArena Text: entertainment and media | Not measured | 1258 | Only Qwen3 30B A3B measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 23 boards here | |||
Image generationNot comparablePublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index0 boards, none shared
| Benchmark | Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Neither model has a result on 5 boards here | |||
What each workload costs
Three fixed token mixes at each model's listed price, so per-token rates become a bill.
Chat turn
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3 30B A3B costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3 30B A3B costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3 30B A3B costs less
Listed OpenRouter rates, without cache or batch discounts. A workload that does not fit a model's context window would need splitting.
Specification differences
The leading value in a row is marked; a row with a missing value names no leader. Our two rows are marked in red.
| Specification | Perplexity Sonar Pro | Qwen3 30B A3B |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Perplexity | Qwen |
| Weights | No public weights listed | Open weights |
| Released | March 7, 2025 | April 28, 2025 |
| Context window | 200K | 41K |
| Input $/Mtok | $3.00 | $0.12 |
| Output $/Mtok | $15.00 | $0.50 |
| Coding index | Not benchmarked | Not benchmarked |
| Independent measurements behind it | 0 | 0 |
| Cost per solved task | Not computable | Not computable |
| Source | OpenRouter listing | OpenRouter listing |
Questions
Is Sonar Pro better than Qwen3 30B A3B for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Sonar Pro for a larger context window (200K against 41K tokens) and work measured by LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) or GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run), where it leads.
Which is cheaper, Sonar Pro or Qwen3 30B A3B?
Sonar Pro costs $3.00 per million input tokens and $15.00 per million output tokens; Qwen3 30B A3B costs $0.12 and $0.50. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Sonar Pro or Qwen3 30B A3B?
Sonar Pro, with 200K tokens against 41K.
How many benchmarks is the Sonar Pro vs Qwen3 30B A3B comparison based on?
5 benchmarks have a result for both models as of October 21, 2026. Sonar Pro's coding index rests on 0 independent benchmarks and Qwen3 30B A3B's on 0. Where only one model has a result, the page says so instead of naming a winner.