# Sonar vs Step 3.5 Flash

> Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.7 to 37.8 on the Noometry Index.

- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/compare/sonar-vs-step-3-5-flash
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Shared benchmarks: 0

## Summary

- The widest gap is in math, where Step 3.5 Flash leads 40.6 to 31.3.
- Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 / $0.30 per million input/output tokens, against $1 / $1 for Sonar.
- Step 3.5 Flash accepts more context: 256K tokens versus 128K.
- Step 3.5 Flash has downloadable open weights; the other is API-only.

## Snapshot

| | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Perplexity | StepFun |
| Noometry Index | 37.8 | 41.7 |
| Rank | 184 | 116 |
| Context | 128K | 256K |
| Input $/M | $1 | $0.10 |
| Output $/M | $1 | $0.30 |
| Weights | Proprietary | Open |

## Coding

- Sonar: 35.1 (#217)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 41.7 (#106)

| Benchmark | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Coding | 35.1% | — |
| LMArena Coding | — | 1436 |

## Reasoning

- Sonar: 20.3 (#221)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 21.2 (#202)

| Benchmark | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| NYT Connections (extended) | — | 28.4% |
| LiveBench Reasoning | 46.3% | — |
| LMArena Hard Prompts | — | 1411 |
| LiveBench Data Analysis | 37.9% | — |
| LiveBench | 46.9% | — |

## Math

- Sonar: 31.3 (#197)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 40.6 (#77)

| Benchmark | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| MathArena Final-Answer Competitions | — | 66.8% |
| LiveBench Math | 41.6% | — |
| LMArena Math | — | 1408 |

## Knowledge

- Sonar: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: 39.0 (#127)

| Benchmark | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Expert | — | 1422 |

## Multilingual

- Sonar: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: 50.7 (#115)

| Benchmark | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Non-English | — | 1386 |
| LMArena Chinese | — | 1448 |
| LMArena French | — | 1421 |
| LMArena German | — | 1404 |
| LMArena Japanese | — | 1353 |
| LMArena Korean | — | 1350 |
| LMArena Russian | — | 1385 |
| LMArena Spanish | — | 1419 |

## Instruction Following

- Sonar: 71.5 (#146)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 73.3 (#119)

| Benchmark | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LiveBench Instruction Following | 76.2% | — |
| LMArena Instruction Following | — | 1385 |

## Long Context

- Sonar: —
- Step 3.5 Flash: 42.8 (#112)

| Benchmark | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Longer Query | — | 1402 |

## Writing & Preference

- Sonar: 52.6 (#166)
- Step 3.5 Flash: 59.0 (#108)

| Benchmark | Sonar | Step 3.5 Flash |
|---|---|---|
| LMArena Text | — | 1403 |
| LMArena Creative Writing | — | 1357 |
| LMArena Multi-Turn | — | 1405 |
| LiveBench Language | 44.1% | — |

## FAQ

### Is Sonar better than Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is the stronger model overall, scoring 41.7 to 37.8 on the Noometry Index.

### Which is cheaper, Sonar or Step 3.5 Flash?

Step 3.5 Flash is cheaper. It lists at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.30 per million output tokens; Sonar lists at $1 and $1.

### Is Sonar or Step 3.5 Flash better for coding?

Step 3.5 Flash scores higher on coding benchmarks: 41.7 versus 35.1 in the Noometry coding category.

### Which has the bigger context window?

Step 3.5 Flash does, with 256K tokens against 128K.

### How many benchmarks do Sonar and Step 3.5 Flash share?

0 benchmarks have published results for both models. Sonar has 7 scored results on Noometry and Step 3.5 Flash has 19.