Sonar vs Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15
Sonar costs 1.6x less per output token than Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 ($1.00 vs $1.56 per million). Updated October 21, 2026; no benchmark has tested both models yet.
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- No data
- Output $/M
- $1.00
- Coding
- No data
- Overall
- No data
- Output $/M
- $1.56
Sonar or Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15: which to pick
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding.
Pick Sonar for output tokens 1.6x cheaper ($1.00 vs $1.56 per million).
No benchmark has tested both yet. Sonar has results on LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run), AA Intelligence Index and GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run); Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 on Design Arena: websites, Design Arena: UI components and Design Arena: game dev. Compare them on price and context instead.
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
Only Sonar has a AA Intelligence Index result, 7.7.
Directional only
Web design
Design Arena: websites
No call
Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 has a Design Arena: websites result, 1187.
Directional only
Long documents
Listed context window
Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15
Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 takes 1M tokens against 127K.
Listed by OpenRouter
Everyday cost
1K input + 500 output tokens
Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15
Sonar $0.0015, Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 $0.0010 per turn.
List prices
At a glance
- Coding index
- Sonar not benchmarked, Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 not benchmarked.
- Widest category
- None yet: no category has been tested on both models.
- Widest single gap
- None yet: no benchmark has tested both models.
- Output price
- Sonar $1.00 against Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 $1.56 per million output tokens, 1.6x apart.
- Context window
- Sonar takes 127K tokens, Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 1M.
Benchmark by benchmark
Every board either model has a result on, a category to a fold; bars are each result on a 0 to 100 scale. Only one model is measured on each, so no row names a leader.
CodingDirectional onlySix of these boards feed the Vibe Coding Index1 board measured
| Benchmark | Sonar | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run) | 29.5% | Not measured | Only Sonar measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 38 boards here | |||
IntelligenceDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board measured
| Benchmark | Sonar | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| AA Intelligence Index | 7.7 | Not measured | Only Sonar measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board here | |||
ReasoningDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index2 boards measured
| Benchmark | Sonar | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run) | 47.1% | Not measured | Only Sonar measured |
| Humanity's Last Exam (Artificial Analysis run) | 4.9% | Not measured | Only Sonar measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 20 boards here | |||
KnowledgeDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index1 board measured
| Benchmark | Sonar | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU Pro (Artificial Analysis run) | 68.9% | Not measured | Only Sonar measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 17 boards here | |||
Web designDirectional onlyPublic boards, shown as published, kept out of the index8 boards measured
| Benchmark | Sonar | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design Arena: websites | Not measured | 1187 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 measured |
| Design Arena: UI components | Not measured | 1178 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 measured |
| Design Arena: game dev | Not measured | 1105 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 measured |
| Design Arena: data viz | Not measured | 1135 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 measured |
| Design Arena: 3D | Not measured | 1119 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 measured |
| Design Arena: all code categories | Not measured | 1167 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 measured |
| Design Arena: SVG | Not measured | 1108 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 measured |
| Design Arena: ASCII art | Not measured | 1094 | Only Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 measured |
| Neither model has a result on the other 1 board 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
Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 costs less
Repository review
50K input + 3K output tokens
Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 costs less
Agent loop
200K input + 10K output tokens
Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 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 | Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Perplexity | Qwen |
| Weights | No public weights listed | No public weights listed |
| Released | January 27, 2025 | February 16, 2026 |
| Context window | 127K | 1M |
| Input $/Mtok | $1.00 | $0.26 |
| Output $/Mtok | $1.00 | $1.56 |
| 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 better than Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 for coding?
Neither model has a coding score yet, so the two cannot be ranked on coding. Pick Sonar for output tokens 1.6x cheaper ($1.00 vs $1.56 per million).
Which is cheaper, Sonar or Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15?
Sonar costs $1.00 per million input tokens and $1.00 per million output tokens; Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 costs $0.26 and $1.56. Cost per solved task is known for neither of them.
Which has the bigger context window, Sonar or Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15?
Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15, with 1M tokens against 127K.
Has any benchmark tested both Sonar and Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15?
No benchmark has tested both yet. Sonar has results on LiveCodeBench (Artificial Analysis run), AA Intelligence Index and GPQA Diamond (Artificial Analysis run); Qwen3.5 Plus 2026-02-15 on Design Arena: websites, Design Arena: UI components and Design Arena: game dev. Compare them on price and context instead. Data as of October 21, 2026.