AI model comparison
DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Sonar
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
DeepSeek
DeepSeek V3 0324
DeepSeek V3, a 685B-parameter, mixture-of-experts model, is the latest iteration of the flagship chat model family from the DeepSeek team.
- Input / 1M
- $0.29
- Output / 1M
- $1.14
- Context
- 164K
Perplexity
Sonar
Sonar is lightweight, affordable, fast, and simple to use — now featuring citations and the ability to customize sources.
- Input / 1M
- $1
- Output / 1M
- $1
- Context
- 127K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
DeepSeek V3 0324
2.2x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
DeepSeek V3 0324
9.7 vs 7.7 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
DeepSeek V3 0324
164K vs 127K tokens
Newer release
DeepSeek V3 0324
Released March 24, 2025
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
DeepSeek V3 03249.7Sonar7.7Coding index
DeepSeek V3 032421.2SonarNot availableAgentic index
DeepSeek V3 03240.8SonarNot availablePricing
DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Sonar API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $0.29 | $1 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $1.14 | $1 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.11 | Not available |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
| Web searchPer request | Not available | $0.005 |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
DeepSeek V3 0324$1.15Sonar$2.50Coding task
30K in, 4K out
DeepSeek V3 0324$13.26$7.86 cachedSonar$34Long document summary
150K in, 2K out
DeepSeek V3 0324$45.78$18.78 cachedSonar$152Specs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 164K tokens | 127K tokens |
| Max output | 115K tokens | 114K tokens |
| Input types | Text | Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | March 24, 2025 | January 27, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | DeepSeek V3 0324 | Sonar |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Not supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Not supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Not supported |
| Reasoning | Not supported | Not supported |
| Temperature | Supported | Supported |
| Stop sequences | Not supported | Not supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Not supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
DeepSeek V3 0324View full model details- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs GPT-4.1 Mini
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs DeepSeek V3.1
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 Coder Next
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 VL 235B A22B Instruct
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs DeepSeek V3.1 Terminus
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Llama 4 Maverick
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs R1 0528
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs R1
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs GLM 4.6V
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Thinking
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Thinking
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Mistral Large 3 2512
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Mistral Medium 3.1
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Mistral Medium 3
- DeepSeek V3 0324 vs Devstral 2 2512
SonarView full model details- Sonar vs GPT-4o-mini
- Sonar vs GPT-4.1 Mini
- Sonar vs Llama 3.3 70B Instruct
- Sonar vs Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct
- Sonar vs Qwen3 Coder Next
- Sonar vs Qwen3 VL 30B A3B Instruct
- Sonar vs GLM 4.5V
- Sonar vs Hermes 3 405B Instruct
- Sonar vs Qwen3 VL 8B Instruct
- Sonar vs Qwen2.5 Coder 32B Instruct
- Sonar vs GPT-3.5 Turbo
Our take
DeepSeek V3 0324 is 2.2x cheaper for a typical chat. DeepSeek V3 0324 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (9.7 vs 7.7). DeepSeek V3 0324 has the larger context window (164K vs 127K tokens). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is DeepSeek V3 0324 or Sonar cheaper?
DeepSeek V3 0324 is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). DeepSeek V3 0324 costs $0.29 per 1M input tokens and $1.14 per 1M output tokens, while Sonar costs $1 per 1M input tokens and $1 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, DeepSeek V3 0324 or Sonar?
DeepSeek V3 0324 supports up to 164K tokens of context, compared with 127K for Sonar.
Is DeepSeek V3 0324 smarter than Sonar?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, DeepSeek V3 0324 scores 9.7 and Sonar scores 7.7, putting DeepSeek V3 0324 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use DeepSeek V3 0324 and Sonar at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see DeepSeek V3 0324 and Sonar answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to DeepSeek V3 0324 and Sonar at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.