Llama 4 Maverick Chat vs Sonar Pro Max: which model should you choose?
We compared Llama 4 Maverick Chat and Sonar Pro Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Sonar Pro Max has the stronger average benchmark score; Llama 4 Maverick Chat is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
Llama 4 Maverick Chat
Llama 4 Maverick Chat is a multimodal model from Meta AI. It offers a 128,000-token context window, costs $5.09 per million input tokens and $23.20 per million output tokens, and averages 79.7 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $5.09 / 1M
- Output
- $23.20 / 1M
- Context
- 128,000
- Avg score
- 79.7
- Open weights
- Yes
Sonar Pro Max
Sonar Pro Max is a multimodal model from Perplexity. It offers a 128,000-token context window, costs $14.01 per million input tokens and $69.33 per million output tokens, and averages 81.1 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $14.01 / 1M
- Output
- $69.33 / 1M
- Context
- 128,000
- Avg score
- 81.1
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | Llama 4 Maverick Chat | Sonar Pro Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $5.09 | $14.01 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $23.20 | $69.33 | A |
| Context window | 128,000 | 128,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 32,768 | 4,096 | A |
| Average score | 79.7 | 81.1 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1419.9 | 1437.8 | B |
| Open weights | Yes | No | A |
Benchmark comparison
Llama 4 Maverick Chat wins 3, Sonar Pro Max wins 9, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | Llama 4 Maverick Chat | Sonar Pro Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 80.5 | 83.7 | 3.2 | Sonar Pro Max |
| GPQA Diamond | 73.0 | 78.8 | 5.8 | Sonar Pro Max |
| SWE-bench Verified | 66.6 | 71.7 | 5.1 | Sonar Pro Max |
| HumanEval | 83.2 | 85.1 | 1.9 | Sonar Pro Max |
| MATH-500 | 84.8 | 86.2 | 1.4 | Sonar Pro Max |
| AIME 2025 | 78.9 | 74.9 | 4.0 | Llama 4 Maverick Chat |
| LiveCodeBench | 76.3 | 75.7 | 0.6 | Llama 4 Maverick Chat |
| IFEval | 87.4 | 88.3 | 0.9 | Sonar Pro Max |
| TruthfulQA | 81.5 | 82.0 | 0.5 | Sonar Pro Max |
| HellaSwag | 88.8 | 88.0 | 0.8 | Llama 4 Maverick Chat |
| MMMU | 75.4 | 77.2 | 1.8 | Sonar Pro Max |
| Arena Elo | 1419.9 | 1437.8 | 17.9 | Sonar Pro Max |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, Llama 4 Maverick Chat costs about $9.62 per million tokens and Sonar Pro Max costs about $27.84. Llama 4 Maverick Chat is roughly 65% cheaper than Sonar Pro Max. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 128,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, Llama 4 Maverick Chat wins 3, Sonar Pro Max wins 9, and 0 are tied. On the index average, Sonar Pro Max leads Llama 4 Maverick Chat by 1.4 points (81.1 versus 79.7).
The price picture favours Llama 4 Maverick Chat. The context picture is effectively a tie. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with Sonar Pro Max for quality-sensitive work and Llama 4 Maverick Chat for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose Llama 4 Maverick Chat if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 32,768-token output limit.
- You need open weights for self-hosting or fine-tuning.
Choose Sonar Pro Max if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
FAQ
Is Llama 4 Maverick Chat better than Sonar Pro Max?
On the index average, Sonar Pro Max leads Llama 4 Maverick Chat by 1.4 points (81.1 versus 79.7). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. Llama 4 Maverick Chat wins 3 benchmarks, Sonar Pro Max wins 9.
Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Maverick Chat or Sonar Pro Max?
Llama 4 Maverick Chat is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $9.62 per million tokens, versus $27.84 for Sonar Pro Max.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 128,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
Llama 4 Maverick Chat is open weights; Sonar Pro Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with Sonar Pro Max for quality-sensitive work and Llama 4 Maverick Chat for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.