AI Models · Paid vs Paid

Sonar Deep Research Paid vs Mistral Medium 3.1 Paid

Sonar Deep Research vs Mistral Medium 3.1 compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Full 2026 breakdown.

Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai

Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.

Sonar Deep ResearchPaidPerplexity
$2 /M input
$8 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window128K tokens
MultimodalNo
Self-hostNo
Mistral Medium 3.1PaidMistral AI
$0.4 /M input
$2 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
TypeProprietary
Context window131K tokens
MultimodalYes
Self-hostNo
Choose Mistral Medium 3.1 for the lower output price ($2/M vs $8/M). It also gives you the larger 131K context window.

Sonar Deep Research vs Mistral Medium 3.1 specs

SpecSonar Deep ResearchMistral Medium 3.1Winner
MakerPerplexityMistral AI
TypeProprietaryProprietary
Context window128K tokens131K tokensMistral Medium 3.1
Input price$2/M$0.4/MMistral Medium 3.1
Output price$8/M$2/MMistral Medium 3.1
Vision / multimodalNoYesMistral Medium 3.1
Tool / function callingNoYesMistral Medium 3.1
Self-hostableNo (API only)No (API only)
LicenseProprietaryProprietary

Price gap & when to choose each

4.0×cheaper per output token

Mistral Medium 3.1 is ~4.0× cheaper than Sonar Deep Research on output tokens ($2 vs $8 per M tokens).

Choose Sonar Deep Research if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure
Choose Mistral Medium 3.1 if…
  • You want frontier performance through a managed API
  • You need the longer 131K context window
  • You want the lower output price
  • You value reliability & ecosystem
  • You don't want to manage infrastructure

Feature comparison

CapabilitySonar Deep ResearchMistral Medium 3.1
Open weights (downloadable)
Self-hostable
Runs fully offline
Vision / multimodal
Tool / function calling
1M+ context window

Benchmarks: Sonar Deep Research vs Mistral Medium 3.1

Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).

Sonar Deep Research
Mistral Medium 3.1
Intelligence index
9.9
Coding index
20.5
Math index
38.3
GPQA
58.8%
MMLU-Pro
68.3%
Humanity's Last Exam
4.7%
LiveCodeBench
40.6%
SciCode
32.4%
AIME 2025
38.3%
IFBench
39.8%
τ²-Bench
40.6%
τ-Bench Banking
8.2%
Terminal-Bench
13.9%
Terminal-Bench Hard
10.6%
Speed
0 tok/s
Latency
0s
Intelligence per $
12.4

Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.

How Sonar Deep Research and Mistral Medium 3.1 score

🏆 Best value & openness: Mistral Medium 3.1 (3.1 vs 2.3 / 5)
CriterionSonar Deep ResearchMistral Medium 3.1
Cost-efficiency3.54.5
Context window3.53.5
Openness1.51.5
Self-hosting1.01.0
Multimodality2.05.0

Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.

What each model is

Sonar Deep Research Paid

Perplexity · Proprietary

Sonar Deep Research is a research-focused model designed for multi-step retrieval, synthesis, and reasoning across complex topics. It autonomously searches, reads, and evaluates sources, refining its approach as it gathers...

Mistral Medium 3.1 Paid

Mistral AI · Proprietary

Mistral Medium 3.1 is an updated version of Mistral Medium 3, which is a high-performance enterprise-grade language model designed to deliver frontier-level capabilities at significantly reduced operational cost. It balances...

Frequently asked questions

Sonar Deep Research vs Mistral Medium 3.1 — which is cheaper?

Mistral Medium 3.1 is cheaper on output ($2/M vs $8/M).

Which has the larger context window?

Mistral Medium 3.1 offers the larger context window (131K tokens).

Sonar Deep Research vs Mistral Medium 3.1 — which should I pick in 2026?

Choose Mistral Medium 3.1 for the lower output price ($2/M vs $8/M). It also gives you the larger 131K context window.

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